A nice relaxing start to Friday as we boarded the coach to head for Vrboska for some wine and cheese tastings!
We followed a very narrow road, winding its way across the hills, several times having to squeeze to the side of the road to let cars and trucks past. The surrounds were mostly the same low scrub and myriads of rocks as we saw yesterday, with the remnants of the terraced, lavender fields clearly visible. Gods knows how many tons of rocks have been picked up and either stacked in piles or used to shore up the terraces, but it must have been back breaking work for generations of farmers!
Our local guide gave us some insight into the history of the region as we headed to the winery, and it wasn't long before we reached the little settlement of Vrboska, not stopping to have a look at the local nudist camp on the outskirts!
We had a bit of a look at the village, seeing some houses that were built in the 1500's, and the large local church. The winery was only tiny, but the host had set up tables etc in a tiny little room and we sampled red and whites and had beautiful fresh tomatoes, cheese, fresh bread and fish pâté to go with it! A quality spread, but seeing that it was only 10am, the urge to down the full bottles of wine was pretty low!
At the end the lady gave us some cherry grappa and some dessert wine to finish with - it was superb!
The rest of the day was ours to please ourselves and while Den and Suzie headed for the pool, Mumsie and I had a nap before heading to the lobby to sit in luxury and look out at the great view. Mumsie read while I caught up with my blog and chatted to those at home! A great relaxing afternoon.
Later we had a shower and wandered into Hvar to enjoy a drink or two overlooking the harbour and then had dinner at a waterfront cafe!
Hvar has been a wonderful stopover on this tour - not sure I would want to be here in the high season (August - Sept) when the population gets to over 40,000 and the temperatures reach 40 degrees! It is a very pretty island and Hvar itself is a picture perfect little spot. Food and drink prices are pretty steep, but I guess that can be expected when everything has to be shipped in.
The area is nowhere as commercialised as the Greek Isles and is much the better for it - time will tell if it can stay this way!
Tomorrow we get the ferry back to the mainland and then down the coast to Dubrovnik for another 3 night stop.