August 2019 – Surprise Birthday Trip – 3 nights with the extended family
On the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia, we didn’t spot any spotted spots, let alone 101 of them, but we did have fun surprising Dave for his birthday. As an extra surprise, his sister (Nina) and mom (Sally) flew in to join us.
Like the rest of our travel guides, this is not an all-encompassing account of everything we did. We do not want to make a list of ‘Best’ or ‘Must-do’ experiences since we know it depends on your personal preferences. These are only our personal favorites and they are divided into two groups: “Avventura Favves” and “Other Things We Liked”.
Overview
This was a surprise birthday gift for Dave so he didn’t plan this one, but his sister did an amazing job finding the best spots and organizing all of the details.
The core Lewin family arrived first in Split, so we spent some time exploring the ancient city on a three-hour walking tour through the palace of the Roman emperor, Diocletian. Nina and Sally’s flight was delayed, and Dave still did not know that they were coming, so we just wandered around the harbor while we waited. We finally boarded the boat to take us to the island of Hvar and Dave was extremely surprised to see his mom and sister already on board. The key to keeping it a secret was not telling the youngest kids about it until the day before leaving.
The smiles quickly turned to worried looks because the water was rough, it was now dark out, and our ‘captain’ was very young and frantically looking at his instruments. Ali was feeling seasick for the whole 45 minutes and multiple times it seemed like we were going to capsize. Other than that, it was a great start to the trip!
Hvar island is very Mediterranean with local olive oil and wine, and beautiful rocky beaches with turquoise water. It’s a fairly large island, but most of the activity is happening in Hvar town with its harbor full of yachts hosting parties each night. It skews towards the young, international crowd, but it is a beautiful place and there is plenty for everyone to enjoy. There is also a lot to explore off of Hvar, in the water and on one of the other islands nearby, which we did during a boat tour (luckily a different operator than the transfer from Split).
If you’ve looked around this website you know that Lynn is Greek-American and that we have been to many of the Greek Islands. This part of Croatia definitely has very much the same feel, but we are very biased towards Greece. The food is probably the biggest difference, Croatian food is heavier and meatier. The cuisine of the Croatian islands and coastal area surprisingly has very little seafood. As one guide told us, Croatians would eat seafood if you took a lamb and threw it in the water. We’re also partial to the Greek’s intense love of children. Maybe if you’re going without kids and food is less critical to you, then they are probably equal and it’s always fun to explore a new place firsthand.
Avventura Favves – a lost dog and his naked owner, sea caves, fishing villages, olive oil
Split Walking Tour – We started our trip with a private walking tour of Split, focusing mainly on the history of Diocletian’s Palace. We can definitely understand why Game of Thrones was filmed here. This massive palace more resembles a fortress and contains half of all of the buildings of the old city of Split. It was pretty cool. After rubbing the giant foot of Gregory of Nin’s statue and learning about sphinx’ stolen from Egypt, we ended the tour at a local restaurant trying a classic peka dish with some nice Croatian wine. Peka is the term used to describe this manner of slow cooking fatty meats (lamb in this case) and vegetables in a metal pan with a dome-shaped lid.
Mekićevica Beach – Memories are truly the best part of traveling. And boy was this beach near Hvar town memorable. It’s a beautiful, rocky (bring water shoes) beach that requires a short hike to get to. The real fun started when the kids found an adorable yellow labrador that swam ashore alone onto the beach. We called the number on his collar, and luckily the woman spoke English. She told us it was her dog and that she lives near the beach and the dog often runs away and goes for a swim. She was out of town, but her husband was home and asked if we could bring him back to the house. We knew which house it was because on the hike down we only passed one, an off the grid looking bungalow. So the kids and Nina walked back up the trail with the dog. There was laundry out on the clothesline so they knew someone was home. They called out and the guy showed up naked and offered his thanks to them for bringing him back. We decided it was time to leave the beach after that, and on the walk back we stopped at the Bohemian styled Pachamama Beach Bar for a nice lunch.
First row: images from the boat swimming in caves and jumping from cliffs — Second row: Stiniva beach and the Blue Grotto
Boat tour with Ilirio’s – Like most of our trips to the Mediterranean, we knew that a boat day was a must. We decided to go with a group tour on a mini-speedboat to be able to reach some of the further islands. Our favorite part of the day was definitely swimming in the lesser-known smaller sea caves along the way versus visiting some of the main attractions. Stiniva beach on Vis island was cool, but there were a lot of people there, and the same goes for the much-hyped Blue Grotto on Bisevo island (which also required a long wait and an extra fee).
First row: a beautiful wine tasting at Carić Winery – Second row: Ali and Sally walking in the port of Vrboska, Lunch on top of the hill at Konoba Maslina Vrisnik Restaurant, Kai and Lynn and Dave at the port of Jelsa — Third row: Joy eating chocolate at Gamulin
Little towns of Vrboska and Jelsa – Since we didn’t rent a car on this trip, we organized a driving tour of the island. It was a bit cloudy in the morning obscuring the views, but it still was an awesome day. The first stop was a visit to a woman that was making honey and lavender products out of her home. And to really kick off the day she offered us shots of rakomelo (raki hard liquor plus honey). From there we moved on to a cafe in the port town of Vrboska and then had a beautiful tasting at Carić Winery. Food is always an important focus of our travels so we continued with a HUGE family-style peka lunch at Konoba Maslina Vrisnik Restaurant up on a hill overlooking the valley. We really enjoyed tasting several versions of their homemade olive oil and the children loved running through the olive trees. Somehow we still had room to taste some chocolate made by Gamulin in the port town of Jelsa. The sun was out and a walk around amongst the boats was a beautiful way to finish the day.
Other Things We Liked
Restaurants
As we mentioned above, we think there is generally better food to be found in the Mediterranean. However, we did have a few meals worth mentioning. In the town of Hvar, we really liked the casual and fresh food at Fig. Lynn and Dave celebrated his birthday with a night without kids at the upscale Dalmatino. Finally, we thought the modern vibe of Black Pepper was not only delicious but creative.
Logistics and Miscellaneous Notes
- It was not easy to get to Hvar. Even from Milan, we had to fly through Prague to get to Split and then transfer via boat to the island. It took the better part of a day. Nina and Sally also had long international flights with long layovers.
- The Split Walking Tour offered the added benefit of organizing a transfer from the airport and luggage storage for us while we were on the tour. That made the logistics a bit easier.
- The boat ride of death transferred us from Split to Hvar. It was nice to be on a private boat, but in hindsight, it was way too expensive and there’s a ferry that we should have taken.
- Since we were a group of 7, we stayed at an Airbnb near Hvar town. We did not need to rent a car because it was within walking distance of the old town for dinner each night, and we took tours to transport us to see the other parts of Hvar and the surrounding islands.
Next Time We Go
If we go back to Croatia we would probably visit a different area to see something new and to find an area that better fits our family. The famous Dubrovnik, or Pula, seem to be great coastal destinations. Or maybe we would head inland to see the waterfalls at Plitvice Lakes National Park. Who are we kidding though, when we plan our next Mediterranean summer vacation to a new destination it will probably be to a Greek island.
The Avventura 