Island hopping II: Jelsa (on Hvar island)

After two days in Bol, we got on the catamaran again and went to Jelsa on the next island, Hvar.

Things started off great with a super friendly guesthouse where we were offered beer and wine on arrival. We then walked through the old town (cleverly avoiding the touristy places near the harbor).

 and had an amazing fish stew with polenta (brodet) for dinner.

Next day, we hiked through lovely fields full of grape vines and lavender, and then climbed a mountain from which you could see both island coasts.

That evening, we went back to the same restaurant where the other dishes we tried were great but not as amazing as the prior night's fish stew so only one picture was taken...

For our second hike on the island, we followed the coast for miles and miles.

I had hoped to cross a hill to take a different route back, but unfortunately not all paths in our online map actually exist IRL.

So we walked back to Jelsa the way we came and ended our last day on the island with aperol spritz in the harbor followed by an amazing dinner of lamb peka.

So delicious!!!

Island hopping I: Bol (on Braç island)

Our boat from Makarska to Bol got cancelled at the last minute, so we travelled back to Split and caught a catamaran from there.

What shall we say about Bol? The mountains were lower than on the mainland so we managed to make it all the way to the top.

Our hotel had a nice pool to cool off and relax our sore muscles.

But the food was only so-so, so we had to resort to eating cake to fill ourselves up. And it was all just a bit too pretty for our tastes...(also, too many British tourists and too many coughing people for comfort).

Frans described it as "like being in Disneyland and not being able to leave". It definitely wasn't as bad as that, but not our favorite stop in Croatia...

Hiking around the Makarska Riviera

After sitting in buses full of 20-year-olds for a whole day (maybe we should have rented a car after all!), we arrived in sunny Makarska. We were a bit worried seeing all the tourists, but Makarska offered some amazing hiking and food!

Makarska is right on the sea, right below some pretty steep mountains. We braved the burning sun, and hiked up to beautiful views.

And once even took care of some work communications on the way...

After which we happily hiked some more...

In the evenings, we ate a lot. First restaurant we tried was disappointing, with octopus (no photo) and squid-ink risotto (our poo was black for *days* after that!).

The restaurant next door was better, with slightly obscene carrots draped over delicious beef cheeks and lots of Plavic Mali, our new favorite wine.

Kamp Velebit

We took a bus from Opatija to the cheap and somewhat-depressing seaside resort of Karlobag.

The weather was horrible -- extreme wind and rain -- so this seemed like a perfect time to take an early morning bus up to the Velebit mountains.

We had hoped to stay in a hobbit themed little hut like this. 

But I messed up our booking so instead we stayed here (which had electricity and was closer to the restrooms so it was actually a good choice given the horrible weather).

We spent our day planning the rest of our trip...

... and walking a mile back and forth through strong winds to the local restaurant to eat cevapcici.

The weather fortunately cleared up the next day, so we got to do some hikes as well. 

The crazy wind, scary paths and thousands of disgusting transparant flies made hiking a challenge though.

So most of our time was spent chilling in the restaurant or in front of our tiny cabin, until finally there was another bus that could take us down the mountain again....

Hum to Opatijia

Our host from the night in Hum was kind enough to drive us to the top of Ucka national park.

From there, we descended through forests, with occasional glimpses of the ocean, down to the lovely coastal resort of Opatijia.

We switched our diet from truffles to sea food and ate some lovely squid salad, tuna sashimi with orange, grilled octopus and seafood pasta.

We even found room in our by-now-pretty-full bellies for dessert!

This dinner made us pretty happy!