Split

We picked up our sailboat "Nelly" in this beautiful harbor in Split. We spent the evening walking along the promenade and eating mussels.

Stari Grad

Our first stop was the quaint village of Stari Grad on Hvar Island. Stari Grad means old town. Right when we got off the boat we went for a walk around. We covered the whole town and every alleyway within an hour or so and made a reservation at a funky little restaurant. Stari Grad was extremely peaceful, there were a few sailors like ourselves but mostly just locals and the occasional farmer.

We docked our boat for the night along the promenade. Docking the boat can be stressful in Europe. It requires backing up the boat into a small slip between other sailboats (Just like backing up your car into a narrow parking spot, but rather than your car, a 50 foot boat). Jeff and Rhonda (Ang's parents) are pros at sailing and make docking the boat easy, but once the boat is all tied up we always celebrate with a cold local beer.

We enjoyed the vivid sunset from the boat and went out for dinner.

We went to dinner at this restaurant/bar "Antika." This place is pretty fun, the kitchen is on one side of the alleyway in one building, and the bar and seating is across the ally in another building. Seating is upstairs, downstairs, on the alley, or a short walk away in the square. We started off with a little Pastis (French classic aperitif) and had a very fun dinner. If you come here, make sure you feed some snacks to the owners dog "Romeo" the fat little beagle who will be watching you eat!

This was pretty unique. As we were wandering through this small town we ended up in this small residential square when we smelled something unusual. We looked around and didn't notice anything, as we proceed onward we saw these giant plastic bags with fermenting grapes. They where making home made grape brandy. Nothing like a little "home cooking?"

Stari Grad was perfect, as you can see from how many pictures we took here, we really liked this little spot on Hvar Island.

Vis

The best sail we had was on our way to Vis! We caught some wind and hauled some ass.

After we successfully docked the boat along the quay, and drank our ceremonial beers we hoped onto some scooters and took off across the island. It only took us about 30 minutes to traverse the entire island to the other harbor town called Komiza! We ate some gelato and headed back to Vis for the night. Sometimes the best way to see a place is on the back of a moped.

Vinogradisce Bay

After some cappuccinos in Vis we took off for Vinogradisce bay on a little island en route to Hvar. We dropped anchor and spent the afternoon swimming off the boat, reading, and enjoying some boat snacks along with some local wine from Vis. This is what the sailing trips are all about, reading in the sun, then taking a dip and a dive.

Hvar

When we pulled into Hvar town looking for a spot to dock the boat for the night we saw it was packed! We circled around the harbor looking for a place to pull in or a mooring ball to tie onto for the night, but to no avail. Finally a friendly couple let us raft up next to them on their mooring ball for the night. Phew! Time to uncork some wine.

Hvar town is known for it's nightlife and restaurants but we especially loved the castle up on the hill overlooking the harbor.

Glass floor in our restaurant.

Vroboska

Our last stop on our bareboating adventure around the Croatian islands was in Vrboska, or "Little Venice." You can see why it got it's nickname.

During an especially rainy afternoon we went on a wine tour of the island. We visited two local wineries, had some great wines, made some friends, and tasted some delicious food.