The real question is, how many words can you use to describe beautiful seaside towns of stone, with narrow traffic-free alleys and endless steps? Beautiful churches and pebbly beaches? Because I think I have run out. As Positano and Dubrovnik were all of the above, so was the island of Hvar. And yet it didn’t make it any less spectacular or unique.
I left Dubrovnik very carefully, so as not to wake MAPOTP (successfully, thank christ) and spent seven hours on another ferry, just as it started raining, which was fortunate timing. In seven hours I updated my itinerary, budget and created a three-year plan with timings and action points – the group sitting next to me discussed where they would most like to travel and why, and how many years they had been living on less than $10 a day (‘When I left Boston in 1964 with $400 in my pocket….’). I was so dissappointed in my lack of creativity and adventure. But no matter, they won’t have a fantastic credit rating, right? Right?
Hvar was stunning, as expected, and the weather hot and sunny, which wasn’t considering the weather in Dubrovnik. I only had two days on the island and spent those walking along the promenade playing a game called ‘which of these ridiculously massive yachts would I buy if I won the lottery?’, swimming and sunbaking.
A continuation of ‘Sarah’s chilled out summer holiday’, really.
-Sarah
PS. Nobody seems to know where I am so I thought I would clarify. I am in Croatia. In Split. I know, the above says I am in Hvar, but it’s slightly delayed, kind of like episodes of ‘Friends’ used to be before they realised we could download them anyway so they may as well put them to air the same time as the US. Ok, so not exactly like that. But kinda. Get me?
Sarah
From Nathalie:
Hello Sarah,
I just wanted to thank you and let you know that I very much enjoyed reading about your trip to Positano and Dubrovnik. My boyfriend and I are attending Positano for a wedding and then we plan to head to Croatia. This will be our first time in both Croatia and Italy and like yourself we too are on a budget, which is why it is helpful for us to know how to get to Croatia from Positano. I guess the easiest way is bus to sorrento train to Naples….question I have is which ferry did you take from Bari to Croatia, and also wanted to know if this route was the best way to get to Croatia? If you can help answer some of these questions that would be great if not don’t worry about it. I will continue reading of your travel adventures…keep them coming.
Nathalie
From admin:
Hi Nathalie – Positano is so beautiful I’m sure the wedding will be amazing!
The tourist office in Positano has timetables of the bus to Sorrento, and the train to Naples (Piazza Garibaldi) arrives every half an hour. From Naples there is a train to Bari, you can look at the timetable on http://www.trenitalia.com (it’s in Italian but common sense works wonders, about 30 euro, you can buy the ticket at the station) and there is usually a stopover in some random place I never did find out where it was.
From Bari station bus no. 20 takes you down to the port, and the Jadrolinija office (on the 2nd floor of the big building, there is no signage anywhere!) will sell you a ticket to the next ferry from Bari to Dubrovnik (about 30 euro for a deck seat). They don’t operate every day so it’s important to check the timetable on http://www.jadrolinija.it
The ferry leaves at 10pm and arrives at 7am at Dubrovnik.
Hope this helps, it was hell for me to figure out so hopefully you now won’t have to go through 50 million unhelpful Italian beaurocrats to figure it out. And yes, it’s the best, cheapest and only way to go.
Enjoy!
Sarah