Tag Archives: Croatia

Croatia – Hvar/Tisno Day 5 (Defected Day 1)

Posted on by
Reply

Last day in Hvar. We checked out of our apartment at 10am, and got brunch at the same place we got brunch on the first day:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2021/08/04/bb-club/

We then caught a ferry back to Split at 1:00pm to catch our ride to Tisno. We hired our Uber driver (that picked us up from the Airport), which cost 850 kuna (compared to 1200 kuna on Uber or Bolt).

We got the festival entrance, and at first got tested for COVID (it was a 10 minute test). Fortunately all of us were good.

We got to security, and they made us throw our opened alcohol out.

The tent was relatively good, but initially was missing a fan (we had to ask for one). The general store was also useful for toilet paper, water, and wine (they had not hard liquor unfortunately).

The festival itself has 3 stages. There is the classic stage (beach stage), olive grove, and defected stage. The first and last were good since they played more deeper music (like tech house).

The food itself was good (got gyoza and fries). However the wait for gyozas was wayyyy to long (like 20 minutes). But didn’t get food poisoning, so that’s good.

The DJs I remembered seeing (that were good) are mainly in the defected stage are Monki, and Armand van Helden.

Croatia – Hvar Day 4

Posted on by
Reply

Started off the day with brunch at 2pm. We went to a place called Bepo. Details can be found here:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2021/08/04/bepo/

Afterwards, we headed to a couple of beaches that were close by. The first one was Pokonji dol Beach. The beach was pretty busy, so we stayed on the side part of the beach where there were more rocks. The beach did have several restaurants, where I was able to get a pina colada to go (and it had real coconut in it). The restaurant was called Mustaco.

After an hour, checked out another beach for like 15 minutes called Strand Mekicevica. It was a tiny beach that I wouldn’t really recommend. Along the way though to that beach was an interesting restaurant that had a Cabana I would try out (it was called Pachamama beach).

During the walk to the first beach, I did notice several nice looking houses (see below for pics). They could easily be worth $7 million in LA.

After the beaches, I dropped of my laundry at a laundry service called Praonica-samaposluga. I thought the service was pretty good, but a bit pricey (160 kuna for a while load).

We then explored the old town area (see picture below for references). Checked out:

-Arsenal (a terrace with a good view)

-Trg Sv Stjepana (a town square)

-outside of St Stephen’s Cathedral

-Fortica (a castle on top of a hill). The view was alright, but not ask good as the view from the Napoleon fortress hike.

Afterwards, got dinner at Alviz. More info can be found here:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2021/08/05/alviz/

Croatia – Hvar Day 3

Posted on by
Reply

Third day in Croatia. We started the day by packing up our AirBnB and heading to the dock. We took an Uber to the dock (which only cost $6).

The boat ride to Hvar (which was by the Krilo boat company and only $15), was about an hour (a bit longer than was advertised), and for the most part pretty chill. They had a pretty good latte onboard, which helped start the day.

Once we reached the island, we went to the Hostel checkin (Helvetia hostel), which was 5 minute walk from the dock. The guy at the hostel was super chill, and actually let us check in without David (who the reservation was under), as well as didn’t ask us to pay yet.

The apartment we rented out was an 8 minute walk up hill (a bit tiring because of the heat). But the place was actually pretty good for a last minute find.

After checking in we headed near the docks and found a really awesome restaurant (so far the best food I’ve had in Croatia). The place was called BB Club. More info here:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2021/08/04/bb-club/

We then met up with David and Milly, we headed to hike up the highest point in Hvar, Napoleon Fortress (took about 45 minutes each way). The view was amazing.

After, we headed for dinner at a place called Restaurant Mizerola. More information can be found here:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2021/08/04/restaurant-mizerola/

After the restaurant David, Rob and I went to a Carpe Diem party (Carpe Diem is a restaurant, and also a close by island). We took a boat taxi there. The DJ, Lawrence Klein, played some deep house (his podcasts were basically burning man deep, so we expected that all night), but still had a good time. The venue/island also looked pretty sick. Some notes though is that credit card is only accepted for drink purchases over 500 kunas.

PS. For grocery stores here, Studenac is the main one to go to (although Tommy’s also exists).

Croatia – Split Day 2

Posted on by
Reply

We started off today by doing brunch at a pretty sick place that had great views and food, called Caffe Bar Vidilica. You can find more info on it here:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2021/08/02/caffe-bar-vidilica/

After, we headed to the old part of Split (Split’s Old Town), where the Diocletian Palace is. Over there, we visited:

-Cathedral of St Dominus

-Vestibule

-Treasury (not listed below, but it does have a lot of St Dominus “relics”)

-Peristil

Afterwards, we got some supplies at mini a grocery store called Tommy’s (which is also all over Croatia). Tommy’s has alcohol, as well as sunscreen and large eaters. There are mini shops called Tisik all around, but really they are only useful for small (expensive) water (they didn’t even have sunscreen).

We stopped by our AirBnb for a quick re-charge, then headed to the west part of Split where we wakes around Marian park for 2 hours (which has some good views), then headed back to prepare for a night out.

Started the night at 8pm. We headed to Bacvice beach to check out any bar there before sunset (unfortunately the sun was hiding behind the clouds). The first bar we went to had pretty bad service since we waited 30 minutes and still didn’t get served, (it was called Museum Bar History), so we actually left and went to another place called La Playa Day and Night, which served us drinks fairly quickly. I got a strawberry monitor, and looks like in Croatia they make it with actual sugar (you can taste the crystals), not simple syrup.

Afterwards, we ate at Terminal 5. More details here:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2021/08/03/terminal-f/

After terminal 5, we headed to a place called Charlie’s, where they cater to the hostel crowd. It was really popular and busy. Got a drink there, and then met people that mentioned the after party is ar Bacvice beach (at this time because of COVID, everything closes at 12am with the exception of a place called Vanilla club since they implement COVID checks). When we got to the beach, it was pretty busy, but we did meet some British people, and also a guy from Italy and Amsterdam who we got some things from. Then went home at 2am.

PS. There is a noise we kept hearing, and they ended up being cicadas. There is a picture of one of them below by the tree.

PSS. One really good local beer that goes down pretty smooth (and is still 5% alcohol) is called Karlovacko. I would recommend.

Croatia – Split Day 1

Posted on by
Reply

Left SFO around 7:55pm on 7/31, and took a Swiss flight from SFO to Zurich, Switzerland. The flight experience was actually really good. They served free Glenlivet (so got 4 of those), two meals (dinner and breakfast), and had blankets and pillows. They also had free snacks and bottles of water laid out for “overnight to” eating. One key decision I did also make is upgrade my seat to an exit row, where I basically had unlimited leg room. From the above, the 11 hour flight went by pretty fast (and also binge watching Below Deck season 4 while buzzed helped).

When I arrived at Switzerland, didn’t have to go through passport control. However, there was security, where they did a pretty thorough screening of my personal bag (I think because there was a good amount of electronics). One thing to call out though is that the mocha from the airport did make my stomach upset.

The flight from Zurich to Split went by fast (basically a bit over an hour). When arriving at Split, passport control had a pretty long line, but went through it after 20 minutes. After, there was a declarations control area, where it looked like they were randomly picking who went through it.

From the Airport, we took an Uber to get to our AirBnb (30 minute drive that cost about 500 Kunas). Our AirBnB is at a pretty central location (5 minute walk from the main part of town).

After settling in the AirBnb, we first had dinner at an outdoor fast food place called Fast Good 058 (where I just had fries since I wanted to stick to something basic). Then we headed to a street called Obala Hrvatskog Preporoda (translated to Coast of the Croatian Renaissance ), where they have a good amount of nightlife and restaurants/bars going on. We checked out Roof68, where they were playing some house / tech house music. Drinks were ok (not cheap though), but I did like the vibe.