Croatia, Part 1: Hvar

                             

                          3.  Existing in its purest form in Hvar, Croatia.

Hvar was INCREDIBLE!  Gorgeous Mediterranean views, a beachy and boozy nightlife, and a chain of nearby islands that are yours for the taking, all wrapped in the prettiest jewel of a harbor town...be still my heart!  I can't even EXPLAIN how happy our days here made me (but I'll try!).

 {view from our hotel}

{the pool - with real pine trees in it - what?!}

{Hvar Harbor}

{the main square}

There are boat taxis that take you to the nearby Pakleni Islands during the day, where you can swim, lounge, drink at the beach clubs, or sunbathe nude if you'd like (scandalous!).

{Jerolim Island}

{clearest water ever}

{heaven}

 

If you're not in the mood to share a boat taxi with commoners, you can always rent your own (NBD).  No experience required.  You don't have to sign anything or provide a security deposit, and there's no time when you have to have it back; you want a boat, you can have one (for $160/day).  So obvi, we rented a boat.

We had no idea where we were going, or how to drive a boat really, but Captain Brian had it under control 

(riiiiiight...).  Brian drove us all around the Med, dropping anchor at a few beach clubs and a couple empty coves where we swam and read books while laying out on our boat.  I must have said a hundred times that day that it just felt like a dream.

 Top five favorite days of my life, easily.

{Captain Brian :)}

{leaving Hvar}

My favorite of the islands we stopped at was Parmizana.  It had a really cool bar where you could sit in the trees while you sipped your drinks, and we also had the best meal of our time in Croatia there at the restaurant called Toto's (part of the Meneghello resort, which looks ah-mazing btw).  The food was unbelievably fresh and flavorful, and the view was unbeatable.  (I took a few instagrams there, but didn't bring my real camera ashore.)  

I could have stayed on Parmizana for a few days, basking in the glory of that beautiful, beautiful island.  But instead, we headed back to Hvar to watch the sunset at the Hula Hula bar, where the same DJ plays the same techno-meets-Enya soundtrack every evening until the sun drops below the horizon, at which point the entire bar erupts in a celebratory, almost primal scream, and the dance party gets started.  (I have no real pictures of this, as drunken sunset dance parties and cameras don't really mix.) 

And that's just a little pre-dinner socializing.

Following a short break for octopus salad, calamari, and fish stew, the island heads to Carpe Diem, which is really the cherry on top of this hedonism sundae.  Carpe Diem is a bar in the harbor that's open until 2am.  But it's also a nightclub.  On an island.  That you get to by boat taxis.  Which leave every ten minutes starting at 2am.  :)

Three glorious days and four glorious nights in Hvar, and it still feels like it was all a dream.