Croatia Day 14

Day 14: Hiking in Hvar

David swore off skipping dinner.  He was having severe hunger pains at midnight last night, so we promised him we would never again make him skip a meal.  Nothing worse than a hangry David!

We met our guide, Nikkola, at the hotel and took off to the far side of the island for a mostly downhill hike through small towns, some partially and some completely abandoned. 

Along the way we saw many rockpiles and what appeared to be rock retaining walls. Nikkola explained that the soil on Hvar was very rocky (think NH and VT but more and smaller stones).  In order to farm the land, these rocks had to be removed and put somewhere.  Original crops here were olives and grapes for wine, but a blight effected the olive and wine production, and farming these crops was all but abandoned.  

The hike began at a small restaurant (and most importantly, with a bathroom).  We took in the beautiful views and tried out their giant swing.

Nikkola had a degree in forestry, and though he wasn't a botanist, he was a wealth of knowledge about the plant species we walked past.  Dave was in heaven.

After the olive oil and wine crash, people started planting fields of lavender which was used for perfumes.

Suzy's return to the 60s

The first town we walked through was Velo Grablje. The present population is about 25 with people abandoning their homews here for the larger towns. With agriculture on the wane, considering the difficulties in raising crops, and the rise in tourism, it made perfect sense to leave these villages.  But a few stalwarts remain and are trying to rejuvenate these villages as tourist destination. We met a young woman here who was trying to get us to buy property.  She must have been able to smell the developer on David.

Large cistern for water collection.  There is now a pipeline for freshwater from the mainland

We saw several cyclists along the way.  Most going down.

The village of Malo Grablje was completely abandoned and is now a ghost town.  The remaining buildings were not structurally sound and most were not safe to enter.

One exception was an old wine press that was converted to an oil press.

With the hike behind us, it ws time to eat lunch in a tiny hole-in-the-wall restaurant, up in the hills above Split, Konoba Kokot (Tavern of the Chicken).

sWe were all first given grappa, about 100 proof wine that puts haitr on yopur chest. With the traditional toast "Živjeli!", we all downed our grappa (if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you).

We had pre-ordered chicken, lamb, and octopus peka which came out promptly. It was all delicious, but I think we all had our fill of peka and especially octopus.

when we got back to the hotel, the Daves and I decided to do some open water swimming in the Adriatic. The way out wasn't bad, but on the return we encountered a strong current and decent sized waves that made swimming difficult.  We felt like Diana Nyad, even though we swam less than 1/2 mile.

Everyone else was at the pool, so we joined them.

They sort of had a water slide but it required a lot of work to get down.  Some kid came crashing into me qt the bottom.

It was so hot that even Jeri made it into the water (with some coaxing.

The Cohens and Rothsteins were pretty full from lunch and decided to do gelato again.  The Daves and respective spouses fouynd a light dinner on the waterfront to avoid an unhappy David.