Day Eight: Stari Grad

9am breakfast, went to a beautiful swim stop, and stayed there for all of the morning. Eat, swim, read, swim, eat. Perfect morning! (Lunch started with “chicken salad” which apparently everywhere else in the world just means salad with chicken.) Main was pork and dessert was chocolate mousse.

During lunch, I decided to change my itinerary last minute…I know, how spontaneous of me! I was supposed to be in Dubrovnik the last two nights but switched instead to be in Split with the girls from the cruise and some of us are doing a day trip to Bosnia on Sunday :)

Today we had a wine tasting excursion at 3pm! Stari Grad is actually on the same island as Hvar just a different town on the other side. We were driven out to a beautiful farm and sat outside trying 4 different Croatia wines. I’ve tried the Croatian wines in many places and I think the whites are just a little too acidic for me and the red is a bit too sweet. But the experience there was great. We had a proper charcuterie board that looked pretty and bread fresh out of the oven and three different olive oils to taste. Got to walk around the farm and pick some fresh tomatoes off the vine and pet donkeys (I did not pet the donkeys as they also were rolling around in their own poop.)

Around 6pm, we went into the town to wander around and I discovered the Croatia of my dreams. Super picturesque stone houses, little alleyways with outdoor restaurants in gardens, and shops with local products. After wandering for a bit, they were setting something up in the main square and it happened to be a Jazz & Wine festival! Unfortunately we were also supposed to go back to the boat for dinner. But I definitely wanted to stay, and suspected my friends did too. I know the dinner was included and free = me, but I felt like I would definitely regret not having dinner in that charming little town. Ended up that another group also decided to stay, so 8 people ditched the captains dinner.

I had a sea bass for dinner that came with Swiss chard and potatoes and an onion/sundried tomato marmalade which was really really good! Might be the best meal so far!

Went back to the wine and jazz festival and got to talk to some wine people at their little stands. My cruise friends were not really into wine and unfortunately the jazz didn’t start until 10:30pm. At this point we were also missing post-dinner boat karaoke! I love karaoke! But being in a town square at a local festival is definitely more unique and really what I look for when I travel. I had three glasses of wine at the festival and still not loving any specific Croatian wine but I loved the Croatian buzz and the jazz music was so fun!

I walked back to the boat around midnight and could hear the karaoke quite a bit away. As soon as I got there they said “Juliana it’s your turn” so I launched into “Dear Future Husband” and think I did a decent job. After that the karaoke started to lose interest and someone switched back to club music and most people went to bed.