Croatia Day 5: Hvar and the Pakleni Islands

Tuesday was an 8 am ferry ride to our next step, the island of Hvar!

The ferry system in Croatia is like the train system when we were in Italy - easy, convenient, inexpensive, efficient, and very user friendly! We disembarked in Hvar a little before 10 am with our bags knowing our hotel was a short walk away but check in wasn't until 3 pm.

Luckily our hotel had porters waiting where we disembarked the ferry so we could give them our luggage to take up to the hotel to wait for us in the lobby. Hours later, when we did finally walk to the hotel, we were VERY thankful for those porters and their van, because there were a million stairs and a very steep hill between us and that lobby.

Freed from our literal baggage, we started to explore the town.

I had no idea what to expect from Hvar, but for some reason, in my head it was relatively small and mostly focused on beach and restaurants. But no! It's huge and full of old buildings and history and hills and valleys and vineyards.

And our lucky lucky kids were so excited when James spotted a fortress at the very top of the hill and immediately decided we should hike/climb a very tall hill to go learn all about it.

While winding our way up the hill we met a lavender seller who took care of 3 cats around his little stand, along with his dog Hugo "who thinks he's a cat." The girls helped feed the cats and gave everyone lots of pets.

Throughout our time in Croatia we noticed that cats seem to be communal- they all seemed healthy and well cared for, but they were indoor/outdoor and seemed to belong to everyone, but dogs were indoor family pets and very beloved. We saw leashed, happy, beautiful dogs at every patio, dogs on walks, dogs on boats... Cora got to pet so many! They must have some sort of TNR policy for the cats because we never saw that many and I follow too many cat rescue accounts on Instagram not to know how quickly a cat colony can explode in size.

The Fortica was constructed in the 13th century under Venetian rule and fortified further in the 16th century, saving the island's inhabitants during the Turkish invasion of 1571.

We got to explore the prison and walk the ramparts and soak up the incredible views.

After winding our way back down to sea level, we walked over to our hotel for the next two nights. That involved climbing back up a lot of steps, so we were glad to be free of our suitcases. The hotel was beautiful- great views, big pool, and a really fantastic restaurant overlooking both. We ate a late lunch, changed into swim suits, and then walked our way back down to the harbor to meet our boat.

Our boat skipper, Jasmin, pulled up to the harbor wall with his dog in the captain's seat and we all jumped in.

Onward!

He asked what we wanted to do and see and the kids exclaimed, "jump off cliffs into water!"

"I can do that," he replied and we sped off.

Our first stop was a cool inlet of cliffs.

The water was so gorgeous and Landon in particular loved climbing the cliffs before jumping.

(That's a little bitty Cora on the far left, climbing up to meet Landon at the top.)

James and all the kids jumped. I decided to wait. It wasn't that hot and the water wasn't that warm and I need something more than simple cliffs to voluntarily get into cold water.

At our next stop Jasmin told me there was an underwater cave we could swim through. "Is it worth getting cold for?" I asked. "Oh yeah," he promised.

And he was right!

The water didn't actually feel too bad and it was so incredibly beautiful.

The cave was really cool. You climbed in through a rock entrance, jumped into the water behind it, and then swam under the underwater exit arch. The kids did it lots of times and I did it twice!

We stopped at lots more places.

After 4 fun and sun filled hours on the gorgeous water, we boated back to town and walked back up to our hotel to finally get to check into our rooms (which were lovely) and shower and change for dinner. We walked down to the water where we ate a great, full meal and then, while waiting in line for gelato, I looked up to see Landon holding a slice of pizza in each hand.

"It was just for sale right over there!" he exclaimed delightedly. We got our gelato and walked back up the stairs to our hotel to watch the last of the sunset over the pool.