Breakfast milk and homemade yogurt options. The spelt milk led Scott to observe, “No crying over spelt milk!”
We woke up at the Adriana Hotel to another day of picture-perfect weather and stumbled downstairs to one of the classiest and most complete breakfasts we had ever seen—6 kinds of granola, 6 different milks, fruit smoothies, etc. Mike promised us a “full day” and the “BEST DAY EVER!”, which was intriguing but very unspecific and a bit hard to interpret.
The “Father of Croatian Literature”, Petar Hektorovic, built a state-of-the-art home over 40 years in the early 16th Century. Here’s the central courtyard featuring a fish pond.
We transferred back to Stari Grad ferry dock and stopped to see the home of 16th C. Croatian poet Petar Hekorovic before beginning a loop that climbed over the interior of the island through small towns until we came to a long one-way tunnel. We loaded the bikes onto our vans and traversed the tunnel (cars allowed only!), remounted our bikes, and began a steep descent toward the Adriatic. A coastal road perched along rock cliffs and followed the sea, and we wound in and out, up and down, until we came to a small winery town and stopped for lunch and a swim. Then we returned back through the tunnel and completed a loop by descending back to the sea and winding along the shore through a series of small towns. It was a stunning and idyllic day. (35 km, 400 m)
What a caper becomes if not eaten, from Petar’s garden.
Petar’s Latin inscription over the first known toilet in Croatia, and maybe Europe. Deedee translated it as, “If you think you’re hot stuff, remember you’re full of shit!”
Betsy and Peg find the grapes from vineyards lining the road much more satisfying than Gel Shots.
Thank goodness for the one-lane tunnel to the other side of the island. It saved us from a long steep climb.
We puzzled over this sign at the tunnel entrance–maybe that’s why our guides deemed it too dangerous to ride bikes through.
It was a little dark as well!
After the tunnel, we rode with the coastline on one side….
…and farmhouses, vineyards and mountains on the other…
…until we found a lunch spot on the water….
Chill time. Scott and Marla take the plunge. The water was consistently in the low 70’s.
Passing boaters watched Pat swim, then enthusiastically waved. “That’s the first time I’ve been a tourist attraction!” he exclaimed.
Peg, Pat, Ken, Deedee thinking about getting back to the bikes. It wasn’t a quick decision.
We hustled back through the tunnel to the other side of island in time for gelato in the town of Jelsa…
…then on to Vrboska, “the Venice of Hvar”….
…where Josko struggles to keep from getting thrown off the Bridge of Sighs (sorry, my photo doesn’t capture that it’s a bridge!)
…before the fading light chases us back to the vans for the drive back to Hvar Town.
Love the photos and commentary. What a great trip!
Note: No way to comment on Betsy’s page it appears she wrote. Not sure why. Tell her it was great anyway.