From Brac I got a ferry down to the island of Hvar. The boat arrived right into the centre of Hvar Town on the West coast of the island. The town is renowned as the party capital of Croatia and because I didn’t book a place to stay I struggled to find a room and was in fact lucky to find somewhere in the end. It was pretty basic, but at least centrally located in Hvar Town, just a few streets back from the port, but I certainly wouldn’t recommend it. So book ahead unlike me.
Hvar Town itself is deceptively small, there’s a long and pretty promenade along the seafront full of bars and restaurants punctuated in the centre by the historic St Stephen’s Square. It’s one of largest squares in Dalmatia and the whole area around it is completely car free with lots of tiny lanes running off it. The square contains the town’s grand cathedral, a museum and also the old military arsenal, as well as lots of pretty umbrella shaded cafes. Next to it sitting high above the town at the top of a small hill is the medieval castellated Fortica. It’s a short gentle walk up from St Stephen’s Square and gives lovely views over Hvar Town and out to sea and across to the Pakleni islands. Definitely worth the gentle meander up.
While in Hvar had one of the most bizarre nights of my life. I was relaxing on the beach during the day and randomly got chatting to this guy and he invites me to a party that night on a yacht. It was kind of random and sounded a bit dodgy, so I wasn’t super keen, but I took his card anyway and thought nothing of it.
Later on I’m in Hula Hula, an open air bar/ club just outside Hvar Town, with some American girls I’d met and I can see the yacht anchored offshore. I mention to them that I was invited on board. By this point I’d had a couple of drinks and the girls were like we should totally go. I call the number on the card and before I know it I’m at the harbour waiting for a motor launch. A crew member clad in all white Ralph Lauren comes to pick us up in a speedboat. We’re shuttled over to this yacht, which looked pretty massive from far away, but is even bigger in reality. There is literally a friggin’ helicopter on the top deck and apparently the boat is some 80 metres long. We arrive at a dock on the side of the boat and we’re helped on by more crew. There’s a row of chairs and we’re instructed to take a seat and then one by one we’re called up, we have to show ID, have our photo taken and sign in. No phones or personal belongings allowed, we have to check them all in. The captain reads us a set of rules, we’re only allowed on the second deck, no going inside and finally have fun.
We’re lead up to the second deck at the back of the boat. It’s a huge terrace with a circular bar in the middle, maybe 50-60 people there, a mix of good looking guys and girls. Cool music playing, champagne flowing, free bar, we can order whatever we want. We mingle, some people are staying on the boat, other people like us were invited that day. We drink, we dance, we get pretty wasted and we party til like 3am and then the party finishes and we’re taken back to shore. I googled the boat name, Samar, afterwards and turns out the boat is owned by some billionaire Kuwaiti guy who just likes to party. Amazing night, but kind of surreal.
