For many reasons, Hvar was my most entertaining part of the trip. I took the ferry from Split to Hvar which only took about an hour. It was my birthday, so I was determined to make it a great day.
When I first got off the ferry I noticed a little boy with a fishing net catching things in the water. As I got closer I realized he was catching sea urchins – and anything else that would fall into his net. He explained to me that there was only one female in the group he collected – it’s the one at the top that looks different than all the others.
I arrived at my hotel fairly early so my room wasn’t available yet. The front desk person told me to just hang out by the pool for an hour and my room would be ready. I had a feeling this would be the case so I thankfully I packed a day-bag with all I would need to pass the time.
The lobby was on the 4th floor of the hotel and you could see several islands from that vantage point. The view was spectacular! When I finally got to my room, I had an equally beautiful view and a nice patio to sit on to watch the boats go by. The room itself wasn’t much to speak of. It was clean, but it was stark and in need of a refurbishment; which I heard was in progress.
Once I settled in, I went to the concierge and asked for her recommendation for a nice place for dinner for my birthday. She made some suggestions and I selected one – Gariful. She then called and made a reservation for me.
The nice thing about Hvar is that it is quite a pleasant walk to the historic old town. 
There is a very well-maintained pathway that runs along the coastline. From my hotel to the old town was about a 15-20 minute walk at a leisurely pace. As I made my way to the old town for dinner I walked past GIANT cactus plants. A number of them were about to bloom and if I had to take a guess I missed them blooming by about 2 days. The other type were blue agave cactus and they were also HUGE. You cannot tell the scale from these photos but I stood next to one and they were much taller than me. If I had to take a guess, I’d say they were somewhere between 8-10 feet tall!
The town is an inviting little sea town. As I made my way to the restaurant the benches were filled with people just watching the sunset and the other people. Hvar was excellent for people watching! When I arrived at the restaurant they had a table reserved for me with a very nice view of the sunset. I was already off to a good start and the evening only got better from there.
My waiter was the best waiter I had the whole trip. You can tell that he took pride in his job and really made each person feel special. I had experienced a lot of discrimination for being a solo traveler up to that point, so it was really refreshing to receive the same, if not better, service than the larger parties.
I decided that I was going to order some fresh fish for dinner but he told me I had to wait a bit because the boat had not yet arrived at the dock. To pass the time, I ordered a light appetizer with a nice glass of wine by his recommendation. Once the fish arrived, he walked me over to the table of fish so I could hand select my choice. The Red Snapper looked amazing, but he went through each of the fishes and explained to me the positive and the negatives of each one. I learned that Rockfish is actually the best fish to order for flavor but because it has such a large head the amount of yield is much less so if you are paying by the kilo you should go with something else. At the end of the day I settled on the Snapper. 
It was grilled to perfection and, without asking, another glass of wine showed up to my table. Since it was my birthday, I definitely planned on having dessert. But before I could even ask for the menu, a dessert and a glass of Champaign showed up – my favorite Champaign – Veuve Clicquot Rose! At the end of the meal I was looking out at the boats and people and yet another glass of Champaign showed up. My waiter said to me “What’s the rush? Enjoy your day!” I am certain that the concierge at the hotel told the restaurant that it was my birthday but the amount of service that I received went above and beyond. For that I would recommend this restaurant to anyone that goes to Hvar.
Hvar fell sort of in the middle of my trip and I designed it to be my “down time” part of the trip. 
You know, sleeping in, lounging by the pool, etc. So, the next day I did exactly that. I woke up a little later, wandered to the restaurant for breakfast, changed into my swimsuit and spent the rest of the day just hanging out by the pool. That evening I headed back to the old town for a light dinner at a nice little place, Black Pepper, that I’d recommend to anyone. It took a unique spin on traditional flavors.
After dinner that night I made my way back to my hotel room and received an email that the culinary boat tour I was scheduled to take only had me on their list, so they weren’t going to run the tour for just one person. I was pretty disappointed since I had booked this tour nearly six months in advance. They offered for me to join another tour that had similar destinations but just didn’t include the culinary part of the trip. Since I had nothing else planned I decided to take them up on their offer.
Suffice it to say, the boat tour could have been pulled from an episode of Gilligan’s Island. I will most likely write a blog post just about this tour. I did see the beautiful Blue Cave and met four really great women along the way, so it made it all worth it.
The next day was my last full day on Hvar so I decided to take the hike up to the Fortress.
Climbing the steps to the entrance was quite a feat but then the wandering shaded trail to the top made for an enjoyable stroll. The fortress was built in 1282 and the Venetians strengthened it in 1557. It is said that this Fortress saved the lives of many during the attacks from the Turks in 1571.
It was hot that day, so after the hike to the Fortress I spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach and the evening walking around the town just soaking in the beauty of the island.
