We spent two weeks in Croatia this summer with our good friends the Farmers. We’ve been planning this trip for a year and I’d been looking forward to it so much. It was amazing — everything about it was what we wanted (except maybe next time I’d choose a month that’s not August — it was insanely hot.) The Adriatic is the most beautiful Sea I’ve ever seen. The water is almost indescribable — so many shades of cobalt blue, teal and turquoise.
We stayed in a 200-year-old stone villa with a pool half way up a mountain overlooking the sea. I loved the village we stayed in, Viganj, on the Peljesac Peninsula. It was rustic and uncrowded with enough of the conveniences (food markets, restaurants, water access and activities) that we wanted. It was a good location to spring off from to visit the neighboring islands like Korcula and Mjet and Hvar and we also did a day trip to Dubrovnik.
The views from our villa were spectacular. That’s our pool on the level below. The view from my bedThe sky turned all shades of pink and purple every night and we had a full moon half way through our trip.A little stone building next to the pool in our villa. It was quite a property. We took our unicorn with us. Seriously. Can you believe the water? The best part is there are no sharks. Not making it up either. The restaurants in our village were so fun. Right on the sea and you could swim or people watch while you ate. It’s a kid’s paradise. I love that we didn’t need to worry too much about making reservations. Even the most popular places only needed a little bit of notice to seat us and in most cases we could just show up and it all worked out fine. So much fresh fish every mealWatching the chef filet our fish. It was caught that day and he brought it to our table before he cooked it so we could discuss how we wanted it prepared.The chef threw all the fish guts into the sea and this turtle showed up to eat them. Apparently he comes every day and has for years. They call him their Sea Monster. We cooked some simple meals at home and ate on our patio. The first week Matt and James grilled a bunch of chicken and we ate it for lunches on salads with fresh tomatoes, cucumbers and the best feta cheese I’ve ever had.Matt and James trying to light candles for me despite the wind because I whined and complained until they did. I love this picture of Christine. She looks so relaxed and in total vacation mode. We booked a boat and captain to take us around to a bunch of neighboring islands. It was such a fun day.Christine and Jess riding up frontNate, Jess, JW, Matt and James all took windsurfing lessons and JW loved it so much he did it a few more times during our trip. His sailing lessons seemed to help him perfect the technique of harnessing the wind. He did great! Meet Bonita! She lives at the windsurfing school. There are wild boar crossing signs all over the roads and our boat captain told us the wild boar live up in the mountains but there are too many of them right now and every now and again they all band together and decide to go swimming and run down into the sea and then the locals have to round them all up and take them back to the mountains. Bonita prefers to live in the windsurfing camp and eat oats and salad and bath in her own little tub. She’s the cutest and super friendly. She tried to eat my straw bag and she rooted around in James’s armpit until one of the surf instructors pulled her away and she squealed like a cartoon piggy. We loved her. I did not windsurf. James and Matt rode mountain bikes up through the mountains a couple of times which was insane because it was SO HOT but there was also lots of this happening.We chartered a boat to take us to Mjet and spent the day biking and swimming in the salt lakes in the National Park. We chose the wrong day for our day trip to Dubrovnik because four cruise ships were docked that day and the walled city was over run. We still had a great walking tour with a local guide we hired and I hung out in the shade while everyone else walked along the the fortress walls. I never watched Game of Thrones but James did and he recognized a lot of the filming locations. Meh. Nate and JW up on the Dubrovnik wallsThis is Mario, our water taxi driver who picked us up on the dock near our villa and drove us to Korcula and other islands. It was such a great way to get around. Jess and JW chillin in KorculaExploringWatching the sunsetJW and the Farmers have known each other their entire lives. It was very special for them to have this time together, especially since the Farmers just moved all the way to Seattle and will be exploring their part of the world for a while. We’re so glad they didn’t cancel when they got the news they were moving. It wouldn’t have been the same without them. I love their relationshipSo much. He’s a lucky kid and he knows it. A little grayer this year. Embracing it all.That’s not my wine. It’s been a year and a half since I decided to stop drinking alcohol. Vacations like this are a little challenging — when the cold carafe of white wine shows up on the table it looks enticing but I was glad I decided not to have any — I felt great without it and didn’t miss any of my vacation because of a hangover. I’m a lucky person — life keeps getting better and I’m so grateful.
