Croatia || Hello Hvar!

Wow...it's been a month since we were floating around the Croatian islands and it still seems like we just got back! Croatia is so incredibly beautiful...and I hate myself for not visiting it sooner!

Our first stop on our Croatian adventure was Hvar. After leaving Lisbon, we sacked up in Milan airport overnight to catch a super early flight to Split. We made a beeline straight to the harbor to buy our ferry tickets but were bummed when we found out that the 11AM ferry was sold out! So while waiting for the 3PM ferry, we camped out at a terrace and got drunk...I mean what else would we do? It was HOT outside! I loved it, nearly felt like home! Christian on the other hand was still getting used to this heat. I gladly ordered him another beer before he was halfway finished with his current beer ;).

Before we knew it though we were on the ferry and then 1-2 hours later we were walking off the boat and into the arms of our friends and travel buddies Denis and Emma. After studying abroad in Finland with Denis, then meeting up with the two of them in Paris, and then going island-hopping in Greece, we just keep planning annual trips with Denis and Emma. The four of us travel so well together. Croatia was an easy plan...kind of like 'hey let's go to Croatia!' 'Ok thinking of going these dates' 'ok we will too!' 'ok we got tickets' 'we did too!' 'So we're going to Croatia!' Too easy :).

As soon as we left the ferry, Denis and Emma showed us to our pension so we could drop our backpacks and put on bathing suits--they arrived a day earlier and arranged a small boat full of booze and picnic supplies--remember how I said we travel well together? This is one of many reasons why. The beer was cold too by the way.

Christian and I were amazed at how fast we got from Milan airport to Split airport to Split harbor to bar to boat to a small booze boat and we were so excited. We spent the remainder of the afternoon boating around small inlets and bays around Hvar, jumping in and out of the water whenever we felt like it. We LOVED scootin' around on the boat! The four of us couldn't get enough of our boozy picnics so once we got back to the harbor and got ready for a night on the town...we instead headed to the store and picked up some local sausage, bread, ajvar (smoked paprika spread recommended by our Croatian friend), a few bottles of wine and grabbed a seat next to the harbor. It was the perfect end to a perfect first day in Croatia...well until the next day...

The next morning we hopped out of bed and followed the path around the island...we found the most amazing swimming spot on Earth. I've never seen such blue, clear water. It was so clear that it looked like we weren't even in water, but that we were standing on some weird Earthy planet! Any of our plans to explore the rest of the island were thrown out the window...this was THE spot and we weren't moving. 

Abiding by true island-hopping spirit, we had to leave later in the afternoon for our next island spot. But it's ok, we grabbed a seat at a bar on the harbor and in the hours before our ferry arrived, we got a sweet view at The Yacht Week party crew arriving by pirate ship...yes by pirate ship...this is when Croatia started becoming my favorite place in Europe...here's Hvar!