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

Posted on August 6, 2021 by jmatie22

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 August 4, 2021 by jmatie22

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 August 4, 2021 by jmatie22

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).