Hello, Hvar!

We sadly left Split behind to head to Hvar*, an island designed for nothing but enjoying the Adriatic Sea…with thousands of other vacationers.  

*Hvar is pronounced for silently choking on the “H”, and then spitting it out a bit after the “V”. 

Getting there was fun, as it was like flying without any of the airport or luggage hassle.  Lots of seats, most of them not by windows, but we grabbed a table and played cribbage. When we disembarked, we had about a 15 minute walk (mostly uphill in the unforgiving heat), but we arrived at our hotel at 10am, long before we could get our room, but plenty of time to gather our beach gear and store our luggage.
  

I told these two that I was sorry I had to drag them to the sea and that it was clear they were making the best of terrible circumstances.  They tried so hard to look miserable, but they just couldn't pull it off.

While we got some beach (again, read: rocky, pebbly places where one can technically get into the water) time in Split, Hvar was designed to enjoy the water.  The beach was the same, and any place that sold hats and floaties also had water shoes for purchase.  Kyla has leather for feet, which I admire, as it took landing on a sea urchin to break her skin.  Most of us just wobbled our way across the rocks to enjoy the coolness of the sea.  

I don’t know how to compare the saltiness of the Puget Sound and the Adriatic, as there is nothing about the temperature in or out of the Sound that is conducive for swimming for an hour, but floating was so effortless, even my skinny, sinkable brothers could have bobbed in the Adriatic.  

Our schedule in Hvar:

Day 1 in Hvar:  All day at the beach. Jump in pool.

Day 2 in Hvar: Laze in room, pool, beach, pool.

Day 3 in Hvar: Go to Jelsa, play at beach, laze at a coffee bar before going to second beach, return to hotel pool.

See a theme? 

My children are all beautifully golden after so much sun, and we all avoided sunburns.  The kids loved all that water time—and centering our adventures partly around swimming holes will behoove our family tranquility.  I swam some and read my brains out—my personal summer goal.

In the relatively cooler evening, I, ahem, suggested we climb up to the fortress overlooking the city before dinner.

Although it was just about a 15 minute walk once we got out of the upper city gates,there was whining aplenty.  Dwayne tried to give the impression he was on my side, but I saw through him.  I did show mercy and didn't insist upon touring the museum.  

 Even miserable, Wesley couldn't resist climbing the walls.

We had a lovely dinner on a rooftop terrace (is that repetitive?), but Dwayne and I enjoyed it the most.  

The hotel was spacious with a balcony (aka, clothes drier) but it had a few quirks.  Besides herds of young men who liked standing around in the pool drinking Coronas for hours, it had a pop art theme.  These are two walls in our bathroom. It's an odd thing to place near the toilet perhaps.  But two keys per room, and partial wall between Wes's bed and ours, and space to unpack a bit, it was a good spot to take a breather from our adventures in traveling.