Deciding to take a walking tour around the palace, we were impressed by the way the vendors of the various shops etc have blended their business into the palace. At its peak, there were 60,000 people living within the confines of the palace walls.

As we were leaving on the 2.30 ferry to the island of Hvar, we pretty much lazed around the area for the rest of the day.

The ferry ride to Hvar was just on 2 hours, with perfect weather conditions. We are staying in a little Airbnb in Stari Grad on Hvar. Joe, the owners Father was at the bus terminal to meet us and transport our bags about 300m by car to our apartment. He is a spritely septuagenarian that handled Laurens suitcase with ease. As he has lived on the island all his life, I suspect it is the fresh air and lifestyle.

Stari Grad is a beautifully, picture perfect postcard style village on the Northern side of the island, about 20 minutes by road from the town of Hvar (we have had lots of fun pronouncing "Hvar", nope, it's not the way it looks). In the morning, we managed to clamber to the top of Glavica hill for a panoramic view of the town, the sea and Stari Grad plains. The "Stari Grad plains" is a Unesco heritage listed area. It has been under constant cultivation for over 2400 years… 2400 years!

After visiting the Church of St Peter and the Dominican Monastery, we donned our togs and headed off for a dip in the Adriatic Sea. A great way to spend the rest of the day.

Lavender is a major crop on Hvar. Like a scene from Forrest Gump, you can get anything Lavender related, Lavender pie, Lavender shrimp, Lavender gumbo etc etc…. (Nah, not Lavender shrimp), but you get the idea. Lauren decided to try "Lavender Lemonade".

Oh my Lawd, what manner of vile excrement is this !! … Like gargling a bottle of Grandma' perfume…

Next morning, we were up and raring to go by 9.00am… We've hired a little 50cc scooter to get ourselves around the island. The hire guy suggested we don't try the road to Hvar township on a 50cc, but hey, what would he know…

A quick jaunt out through the Plains to the hamlets of Jelsa and Vrboska suggested our iron pony may be a little underpowered, or alternatively, slightly overloaded (Laurens has been stashing those twin scoops like there's no tomorrow)..

Hvar has hundreds of little coves or safe harbours, the larger ones became towns, but the smaller ones are just idyllic swimming spots, with crystal clear water protected from the elements by rugged cliff faces.

The road to Hvar Grad was indeed a challenge. About 22km of winding steep hills through wonderfully picturesque countryside. If it wasn't for the tour coaches, trucks and suicidal crickets the size of small mice, that just managed to hit me smack in the face every time we reached 50Kph! (most of the time we were at 20Kph, except downhill, then we had to deal with speed wobble over 60Kph..), we would have enjoyed the views immensely!

The best thing about an exciting journey like that one, you have to do the same again to get home..

Not overly impressed with Hvar Grad, it's like a Stari Grad on steroids. For me, the little village setting is far more appealing. Heading home about 2.00pm for a nanna nap and take care of some clothes washing by hand. The look on Lol's face at the concept of hand washing clothes…