7/8 Monday
We put on our packs, say a final
good-bye to our hosts, and head down the hill to the bus stop. I don’t think
we’ll miss the hill. We’re just glad it’s all downhill today.
The fast bus gets us to Split, no problem, then
we pick up tickets for the ferry and have a coffee while we wait. The ferry
station starts to fill up with back-packing young types, wearing Ray-Bans (the
boys) and little sundresses (the girls). This is going to be a different kind
of destination, we see. The ferry takes about 2 hours, slow and hot in the
shade, too sunny in the breeze.
As
we arrive in Starigrad, on Hvar, everyone starts piling up to rush off the
ferry and grab a seat on the bus to Hvartown. We have a nice man waiting for us
with a sign “Bob and Patricia.” This is Marco, our host’s father-in-law. He
doesn’t speak much English, but welcomes us and drives us the 10 miles over the
hills to our apartment.
We
are very happy to find that we’re on flat ground, just across the block from
the city center. We have a nice little place with a canopied table in the front
patio. Our host, Daira arrives a few hours later, coming over from her job as
an oncology nurse in Split. Her family has a summer home here in Hvar with the
apartments. She registers us with the tourist bureau online, then takes us out
for a short sightseeing drive.
We
head out of town up over the rocky, piney hills to a small, old town on the
ridge, famous for their lavender. We stop by the roadside an pick a handful of
wild rosemary, oregano, sage and lavender, while a lazy burro watches from
nearby. She cautions as we get out of the car, “There is small danger of snake,
but is ok.” Apparently there are poisonous snakes on the island, and I’d
actually love to see one. Not be bitten by one, just see one.
We
wind back down the narrow road, and up to the Spanish castle fortress that
overlooks the town and harbor for the “best view of all.” She wants to drive us
up, to save us the steep, hot walk up the stairs from the harbor that most
tourists suffer. We do appreciate this, and the view is wonderful, all the
surrounding islands off the coast, sailboats and yachts in the sea, the town
and the harbor. There’s a raucous cocktail party with a loud dj going on at the
pier, with shouting and booming bass reaching us up at the fortress.
There
are two girls in the adjacent apartment, who looks about fifteen, but must be
older. They speak English, but with a heavy, cockney sort of accent so that we
really can’t understand them. They seem to go out drinking all night and spend
the afternoon talking about the boys they go with.
“I
mean really, why do I always put myself in this position? I told myself, I
would not kiss him, I just wasn’t going to kiss him, because then it would be
all over, you know?” Yea, but then you like the attention, right?” Yea, it’s
the sea an this hot guy an all, and then for some reason everybody thinks it’s
ok to like, touch my ass, you know?”
This
go on for quite a while, intermittently understandable, and continues as such
for their whole stay.
1 Video Included
Ferry Split to Hvar
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