Croatia June 2026

The ship cruise has been amazing and the water of the Adriatic Sea is so clear and blue and a lovely temperature. The towns have so much history and because they were built out of lime stone the sun just reflects off of it and it has been so hot that every time you go out sweat just drips off your back and face.

The final morning on the ship breakfast was early from 7 till 830am when your luggage had to be outside your room so that we could gather at 9am for a final photo in front of the Diamond

before we grabbed our cases and walked across the road for the bus to Split we left Šibenik at 923am for Split. It travelled through some forests before following the coast to the airport then over the mountain into Split we arrived at 11am where we all said our goodbyes and went our own way.

I caught a taxi to the hotel where I got to sit by the pool with iced water whilst I waited for my room. I am on the 2nd floor the room is nice (except the stairs).

I dropped my bag and then walked back into town through a market to the waterfront. I then found a lovely waterfront restaurant to have a chicken Caesar sandwich for lunch before my 230pm TukTuk tour.

I had a Canadian who has lived here with his girlfriend for the last 18 months give me a tour of Split. We went from old town and the waterfront through the western area where the Marjan Park is. We basically drove the outside boarders of the park. We started at the highest point which overlooks the town of Split. You could see from the commercial centre (big black tower is an international hotel) down to the harbour with old town in between and the gardens as well.

After that we went to the beach area of the park along the other boarder. Looked down onto the most popular beach in split. We then drove to the chapel area where they hold weddings and there was one being held there. This is also the area where the locals jump off the cliffs into the sea. It was originally a city cemetery but they had to move it as a lot of it was destroyed when a bomb was dropped on it.

The boat departed early 5am to cruise the last stretch from Hvar to Šibenik this will take 6 1/2 hours so after breakfast everyone just spread out around the ship to talk, read, relax, sun bake, sleep and pack their suitcases.

About 1/2 hr from where we needed to dock and before we passed through The Gate of Split, we were able to pull up for a 20 min dip in the sea.

We the had our turn to pass the gate and dock in Šibenik. We weee the first boat against the pier.
At 3pm we met our guide for a walking tour of the city. It was the end of the 2 week children’s festival so there were banners of children hanging all over the old town. It was so hot that I didn’t take any notes so here a few photos from thought the walking tour.

After the tour Kate, Vivian, Kylie, Matt and myself walked along the waterfront and sat there with cold drinks for over an hour to cool down. Kylie and I walked back to the ship via a gelato shop in 36 degree weather. The heat is very intense and there have been red weather alerts for extreme heat for the last three days. We relaxed for an hour before we walked back into town for dinner we went where Sasha suggested. It was No 4 and we had passed it earlier in the day.


We walked past the water clock in both directions so below are the day time and night time shots of the clock

After dinner we walked through the old town doing some shopping some of the streets were blocked off but we found a way around as we walked back to the boat. We found Mel and Steve on board so had a chat with them before going to bed

We stayed the night in the harbour of Hvar, before we sailed early in the morning for Stari Grad.

Old town is the meaning of Stari Grad it was named in the 13th century. From 400 bc to 13th century was the capital. It is often referred to as Little Venice.
We were met by the guide at the port and driven to the city of Stari Grad where we did a 1 hour walking tour. The population is around 2000 people and it is in the north end of the island of Hvar.
St Nichols is the patron saint of sailors so that is why the church is named after him.
We did an hour walking tour through the streets with the temperature starting at 32 and it slowly climbed. We got to the water front which was lovely and had 10 mins free time before we walked back to the bus.
Pictures of Stari Grad

We then drove to the next town Vrboska. It was an old fishing town built along a canal with pretty bridges crossing it. We walked through the town for an hour saw the waterfront and the church. It was very quiet during the day and extremely hot.

We then got on the bus and drove to Jelsa.
As the temperature had now hit 38 I decided not to do the 1 hour walking tour of Jelsa. Instead I went and got some way from the supermarket and sat in the bus and drank a litre to try and cool down as it was so hot. This is also the town where we were docked for the night.

In 400 bc Greeks arrived and fought for the land as it was the most fertile soil of all the islands. They divided the land into 75 even plots and it has remained like that for the farming families.

So when everyone returned to the coach we drove to Hora (one of the original plots of land) that is now a winery and olive oil producer.
We were dropped off and we walked the 5 mins into the winery where we sat outside under a patio area and ate a traditional peaka lunch.

We started with bread and 3 different types of olive oil and a tasting plate to share consisting of sardines, salami, 2 types of cheeses and olives. The whole meal was paired with different wines. For the main meal they bought out a dish that had been slow cooked in a big pan for 4 hours it was veal, lamb, potatoes, carrots, zucchini and egg plant along with onion and garlic. They bought me my own one without the onion and garlic and it was really nice. They also bought me beetroot juice which I couldn’t have but everyone else on the table said it was super refreshing.
They then bought watermelon to finish the meal.

After 1hr45 we walked out and were driven back to the town of Jelsa as the boat had moved and was now docked there.
After being dropped off at the edge of town we walked in and it was now 40 and so hot and sweaty we had a group photo in front of the ship either the sign of the towns name.

We all went on board and changed to our bathers and walked the 10 mins to the beach. It was a rocky beach but the water was sensational and we swam and floated on the water for about 2 hours before we made our way back to the boat to change for dinner.

The town was so small we ate in the main restaurant which was just across the courtyard from the boat. 9 of us ate dinner outside and it was lovely. I then went back to the boat and to bed.

The boat departed at 530am to head towards the Blue Caves. We all gathered downstairs at 7am as we cruised towards the drop off point for the Blue Caves which is a national park now.

The boat is allowed to dock for 5 mins for everyone to get off and board the small boats that take you into the caves. The boats hold 12, we went pass the place that a scene from the Hits Man’s Wife was filmed, in the movie he jumps off the cliff and into the caves.

You enter the caves on the tides, when the waves go low they speed through the small entry.

Once inside the caves open up to about 18 foot ceiling.

The caves were discovered 100’s of years ago but the locals didn’t let the world now. In 1884 an Austrian man, Eugen von Ransonnet, crawled in and painted the cave. He returned back to Austria and bought back his students and made it known to the world. The Croatians blasted an entrance into the cave only big enough for the boats to enter. The original natural entrance into the cave is below.

After exiting the cave we were dropped straight back to our boat and ate breakfast.
We then set ail for Hvar. At about 11.30am we stopped for a swim off the back of the boat.

We then had lunch on board and cruised into the outer harbour of Hvar, as the boat wasn’t allowed to enter the harbour until after 6pm as the ferries from Split have the rights to the harbour until this time. A water taxi came and collected us and took us into the harbour for our walking tour around the town.

The port of Hvar has 17 small islands protecting the harbour , the town has approx 4000 residence in winter and 20000 people in summer. It was originally inhabited by the Romans then the Greek’s about 200 years later and then the Spanish and there is evidence throughout the island of the different periods of occupation.
Stali Grad was the Capital until the 1300th century where it changed to Hvar. The main products of the island are salted fish, wine, olive oil and lavender.
It was a ship building location for many hundreds of years, and one of the original ship yards has now been turned into a museum and on the first floor of this building is a renaissance theatre.

St Steven’s square is the main square and is the 2nd largest on the Adriatic Sea behind St Marks Square in Venice.

At the top of the hill overlooking the square is the fort, it is now a museum. In 1571 the fortress saved everyone in the town as they hid inside for 3 days whilst they were invaded and everything outside of the fort was destroyed.

There is a Benedictine Monastery in town that is famous for lace made from Agave threads. Once the nuns enter the Monastery they never leave except for medical reasons. The lace work they make is so expensive and unique that it is under UNESCO.

Buildings from around Hvar.

After the walking tour we had free time so Kylie and i entered up in a waterfront bar having a milkshake and smoothie. It was needed to cool down as mid 30’s and so hot.

After a drink and rest we walked through the streets looking at various shops before coming back down to the waterfront to see where our boat would tie up. We ran into Sasha and asked him a nice restaurant to eat at for dinner and he walked us down to Mediterranean

It is a Michelle’s star restaurant and we were so lucky that they had a table on the small terrace for 2. The location was so pretty and the food was amazing I had grilled fish and julienne vegetables (it was so yummy) and we then asked what they had for dessert. There wasn’t a menu just a choice of 4 flavours
Dark chocolate and piso
White chocolate strawberry and coconut
White and dark chocolate with raspberry
Ferrero Rocher
Kylie had dark chocolate and pistachio I had the dark and white chocolate raspberry. It was out of this world and the way they presented the dessert was insane. The food comes out with smoke swirling in a dome above a plate. the waiter then proceeds to remove the dome a large raspberry shape with decoration (that you can eat) was revealed. He then went through every thing on the plate and explained it.
it was truly amazing and one of the best desserts I have even eaten in my life. The whole meal was very reasonable for the quality of food. About $50 euro for me

We then walked along the waterfront to the end to take photos of the sunset and then went back to the ship spoke with others and then off to bed,

At 6.30am we started sailing for Vis Island. After breakfast we had free time as the sailing took 6 1/2 hour between the two islands. We played cards on the deck until we dropped anchor and went for a swim off the back of the boat for an hour and then ate lunch and continued into Vis. Yugoslavia controlled the island until 1991 and there are a lot of tunnels and war sites on the island it is also the island where some of Momma Mia 2 was filmed.

We all got off the ship and dropped off our laundry and had free time to walk around. I went for a walk then went back to the boat and people watched. Others went to a winery or a swim.

We all gathered to go to dinner and walked along the main street until we found a restaurant that was down along the shore and ate whilst the sunset.


We all then returned to the boat and I went to bed, as had to be up and ready to go into the Blue Caves by 7am.