Day Trip: Jelsa (YEL suh)

Hvar is the only place where we get two full days.  Our agent recommended finding a tour and exploring chain of islands more. A boat taxi for five is the same price as hiring a private boat for the entire day, but both cost more money than we were willing to leak out of our personal expense fund—every meal out never cost less than $100, even with small dishes and shared plates. That’s the real cost of traveling with a family to world-popular destinations in peak season!

But our Fodor’s guide recommended the nearby Jelsa (YELL suh) as a perfect beach town far away from the maddening CROWDS of Hvar. For about $70 each way, we hired a taxi to take us the 30 minute drive to Jelsa, enjoying the country side and sailboat-dotted harbors we saw on the way.

I led the way “to the beach by going through adorable alley ways” but the kids were on to me.  So to the beach we went to, at least for the morning.  Soon, we had kids both hungry and needing to use the restroom.  Croatia, so far, doesn’t have many public toilets, and when they do, there is a charge for them.  It’s nominal, but we rarely have bills less than 50kn (about $8), let alone the coins for a 5kn toilet fee.  So, finally on Day #4 of Croatia, we made our way to a coffee bar.

Rick Steves would be disappointed to learn how long we waited to spend a few hours enjoying a treat as we people watch from our patio seating.  We ordered ice creams and pankakes (crepes), juice and something possibly uniquely Croatian, ice coffee.  Our RS lecture “warned” us that ice coffee is NOT iced coffee.  It is a full scoop of vanilla ice cream and whipped cream slowly melting into your cup of coffee.  

I read, Kyla listened to a book, Dwayne played cribbage with Piper and Wes, and we deliciously wiled away a siesta until it felt time to go explore the next beach.

Finally!  A beach with a topless woman, giving me permission to get a better tan and a longed for European experience….and true realization that there are plenty of old men with large breasts than mine.  I loved the empowerment and though each kid asked in turn why I wasn’t wearing my top, only Piper made it clear she would never do that.  When I came out of the water, she threw me the rest of my bathing suit so that I could cross the rocks with her and see “her” tide pool.

She must have spend almost two hours trying to catch fish and letting the ghost shrimp nibble her cuticles.  Our marine biologist couldn’t believe we’d drag her away from her lab experiment at 5pm to return to the hotel.

Kyla vacillates between swimming and exploring the rocks and enjoying the shade and listening to another audio book.  She’s completed more books than I have this trip, and I have done my best to read my brains out.  (Booklovers, I am currently really enjoying Shelly Thomas’s Elemental Trilogy, finding it almost as compelling as her Lady Sherlock series.)

Wesley is swimming and playing and swimming and playing, and has loved all the beach time we’ve had in Croatia. In a family of three water babies, he’s the “wateriest”.

Dwayne is dreaming of pillars and columns, future yard projects for us. I, however, want something just as unreasonable in overcast Washington: a sundial.  The islands of Croatia brag about the hours of sun they get annually (Hvar has 1-2 foggy days a year, and they feel so dreadful about it that Fodors claims tourists get refunds if they happen to be there that day), making a sundial natural.  However, the fact that I took this at 15:30 doesn’t add up.

Jelsa, we were charmed!