this seems like quite a distant memory, actually. it was blistering hot, back in august and sandwiched in between two ireland tours. it was such a treat to be able to get together with jen, a slice of home mid-season. and to travel for the sake of a vacation-what a concept! we definitely walked a rather well-trodden path on that trip, hitting guide-book style destinations but it was still a great introduction. beginning in dubrovnik, we headed up to split and then to some islands...brac, hvar, and vis.
we spent a considerable amount of time in split [all things being relative as the whole trip was only 10 days] and used it as our base camp. there was an amazing daily market and the medieval town with narrow passageways and shiny marble tiled boulevards. while dubrovnik was similar [and the most pleasing name for a city EVER], split somehow gave the same features while remaining a little more local, a little less touristy in feel. again, this is a relative statement as there were still buckets and buckets of tourists there.
vis and brac were quick visits to beaches via scooter rental silliness. vis was a quieter island and we found a really great little swimming hole with a sleepy outdoor cafe. the sharp limestone, however, was a tad treacherous. the rock "beach" cut me up a bit. i really should have listened to the ongoing advice to wear a pair of water shoes.
we nearly missed the point with hvar, having landed in the italian playground of bars and high-maintenance fanciness in hvar town. but in a weird twist of missing bus stops and the like, we spent a night in stari grad and found what we had been looking for the whole time.
i definitely have more pictures than words.......
ps: hvar town did present another remote slice of home - i ran into mike, someone i worked with at nelvco. so nice. he and his wife were tracing their croatian roots and we sat and chatted for while, mostly commenting on the smallness of this crazy planet.
