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| Amfora Hotel, Hvar, Hvar Island, Croatia |
Back in London now and I've uploaded more pics from the trip. Divino Restaurant (pictured below) was by far the best. We enjoyed a six course tasting menu for £40, it was excellent and with an amazing harbour side view, it tops all others. I have done a separate review for Divino that you can check out my blog.
My restaurant picks for Split & Hvar Town
- Divino restaurant (fine dining)
- Zori restaurant (needs Island transportation)
- Ante Tudor - Milna (casual)
- Cafe F - Split get the pizza! The seafood pizza was top
- Wine Tour http://www.hvartours.com/wine-a-gastornomy/hvar-wine-tour We did the tour to Tomic Winery see below.
- Take a water taxi to another Island - we headed to Carpe Diem beach in the daytime, careful which Island you go to as some have nudest beaches ;)
- Walk up to the Fort
- Relax poolside or take a bus to another beach around the cove on the Island, or to Stari Grad (warning, buses sometimes don't turn up at Stari Grad so make sure you don't leave later than 4pm, there is a tourist office close to bus station at Stari Grad and they can arrange a taxi back to Hvar Town if you get stuck but obviously this will only be open during day time hours)
- We'd probably stay here again as they helped recover our lost luggage
- They have a great pool - get a seat before 10am as a lot of non resident people from outside of the hotel also come, be sure to get a pina colada
- Breakfast buffet is great as they run two large buffets in a beautiful dining room overlooking the sea
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| Walk down to pool and waterside from hotel room |
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| Divino Restaurant, Hvar Harbour |
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| Divino Restaurant - habourside |
There were traditional eats we had at other restaurants were enjoyable also, including one at Stari Grad where we had a perfectly delicious stuffed squid meal.
We were booked to go to Zori restaurant but we couldn't secure reasonably priced private transport across (it's on another Island and no commercial boats were operating at that time) so its on the agenda for next time. The standard of food in Hvar is excellent due to the fresh produce and quality they use, service is good some staff were in-experienced but this made no difference to our enjoyment because they were mostly polite and friendly.
Day 3....
Finally my luggage is back so there was much rejoicing and I have secured decent wifi - bonus! Thanks to the hotel and their staff who'd arranged for our luggage to be delivered safe and sound to our room.
Today we went to a wine tasting at Andro Tomic's cellar in Jesla. Andro is considered one of Croatia's top wine producers. It's a lovely boutique facility from which he produces 120,000 litres of wine a year.
It was pleasant and enjoyable food, nothing fancy, just a good feed of sharing meats, med style vege and gnocchi. Yes, gnocchi - a lot of the food is Venetian style due to the closeness of Italy and the pizza here is better. That's the truth if you can handle it.
Ps. More pics as soon as I can get decent wifi
Day one...
Well my first day in and my luggage got lost in Frankfurt and after a long day of planes, buses & ferrys, I'm finally in Hvar Town. After enjoying a honestly good pizza in Split of course.
Day 3....
Finally my luggage is back so there was much rejoicing and I have secured decent wifi - bonus! Thanks to the hotel and their staff who'd arranged for our luggage to be delivered safe and sound to our room.
Today we went to a wine tasting at Andro Tomic's cellar in Jesla. Andro is considered one of Croatia's top wine producers. It's a lovely boutique facility from which he produces 120,000 litres of wine a year.
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| Hostess - Tomic Winery |
We had a lovely young host who had only been working with the Tomic's for two months...she knew nothing of wine prior to working there so she had gaps in her knowledge but she more than made up for in hospitality. After this we headed to Lucullus restaurant for dinner.
Woke up to a glorious morning, clear skies and after enjoying a breakfast with a lovely view of the Adriatic Sea we headed clothes shopping, still no sign of our luggage. We settled on a shop called Mana, which I could probably only describe as similar to m&s style clothing, very plain. I feel like John travolta in the Tarantino movie pulp fiction, when he had to borrow ill-fitting clothes from a buddy who tells them 'you look like a couple of dorks' They were fresh out of stock in anything in my size, so I did what any normal gal would do, go for a smaller size, dork look complete. I'm clean and I'm covered and that's what matters. Speaking of covered, Hvar is a hotspot for nudist fans. Many moons ago Hvar set up a few nudist beaches around the island in hopes to attract tourists and now, it's thriving! I've not come across any as yet but will be keeping an eye out. We spent a good part of the day trying to track down our luggage and lying poolside.
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| Our tasting table - Tomic Winery |
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| Tomic Vino - Excellent Plavac Mali (centre) |
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| Rose with Anchovies - Tomic Tasting |
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| Tasting Room - Tomic Winery |
Woke up to a glorious morning, clear skies and after enjoying a breakfast with a lovely view of the Adriatic Sea we headed clothes shopping, still no sign of our luggage. We settled on a shop called Mana, which I could probably only describe as similar to m&s style clothing, very plain. I feel like John travolta in the Tarantino movie pulp fiction, when he had to borrow ill-fitting clothes from a buddy who tells them 'you look like a couple of dorks' They were fresh out of stock in anything in my size, so I did what any normal gal would do, go for a smaller size, dork look complete. I'm clean and I'm covered and that's what matters. Speaking of covered, Hvar is a hotspot for nudist fans. Many moons ago Hvar set up a few nudist beaches around the island in hopes to attract tourists and now, it's thriving! I've not come across any as yet but will be keeping an eye out. We spent a good part of the day trying to track down our luggage and lying poolside.
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| No luggage, best I console myself with Pina Colada |
Later we headed to a place that served home style food, un-rushed and wallet friendly. Tucked away in the pretty alleyways that make Hvar town so attractive. The staff were helpful and un-obtrusive and we sat in a small terraced area, with rustic surroundings.
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| Stuffed Squid, Stari Grad |
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| Aubergine Gnocchi - Konoba Menego |
It was pleasant and enjoyable food, nothing fancy, just a good feed of sharing meats, med style vege and gnocchi. Yes, gnocchi - a lot of the food is Venetian style due to the closeness of Italy and the pizza here is better. That's the truth if you can handle it.
Ps. More pics as soon as I can get decent wifi
Day one...
Well my first day in and my luggage got lost in Frankfurt and after a long day of planes, buses & ferrys, I'm finally in Hvar Town. After enjoying a honestly good pizza in Split of course.
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| Split pizza is better than Itlay! |
Hvar is lovely and the folk at Amphora Hotel have been actively chasing my luggage ... Fingers crossed I get it tomorrow, so in the meantime I'll get rested up for a full day in the morning, ka kite.
June 25
Kia Ora everyone, join me on my wine and food trip to the lovely Island of Hvar, Croatia. I'm soon heading to this beautiful spot off the coast of Croatia and will be getting lost in the Island's beauty, night-life, dining and long history in wine production and tasting. Croatia has a special place in my heart as a New Zealander, thanks to one resourceful Croatian chap who many years ago, purchased a piece of land for next to nothing from a farmer in the South Island. The farmer, fed up he couldn't cultivate on dry, gravelly land, sold it to this Croatian family who planted vines and started NZ's first wine production. This was further expanded by more Croatian families and their community, to now where we have a thriving wine industry, and it was all thanks to them.
I am hoping be visiting one of the top wine producers on the Island of Hvar and I'll be updating this blog with all my escapades, be sure to check out my updates on twitter too https://twitter.com/G00dKai.
June 25
Kia Ora everyone, join me on my wine and food trip to the lovely Island of Hvar, Croatia. I'm soon heading to this beautiful spot off the coast of Croatia and will be getting lost in the Island's beauty, night-life, dining and long history in wine production and tasting. Croatia has a special place in my heart as a New Zealander, thanks to one resourceful Croatian chap who many years ago, purchased a piece of land for next to nothing from a farmer in the South Island. The farmer, fed up he couldn't cultivate on dry, gravelly land, sold it to this Croatian family who planted vines and started NZ's first wine production. This was further expanded by more Croatian families and their community, to now where we have a thriving wine industry, and it was all thanks to them.
I am hoping be visiting one of the top wine producers on the Island of Hvar and I'll be updating this blog with all my escapades, be sure to check out my updates on twitter too https://twitter.com/G00dKai.
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| American oak barrels - Tomic Winery |
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| The Amfora Hotel - Luggage Rescuers |