Croatia, Day 2 - We make ATM withdraws look sexy... and we revel until dawn.

We woke up this morning on our sailboat - our very own sleep machine with the rocking and the waves.

Our skipper, Josko, took us all for some Cro-at espresso at the marina restaurant - it was delicious!

Kevin had about 34 shots of espresso by the time we left Croatia on Sunday.

Though there had been a weather advisory earlier in the morning, the weather was looking beautiful (though still a bit chilly) around 10:30, so we set sail.

We left Split and headed towards the island of Hvar, about 4 hours away.

Though it was a bit chilly, once we got sailing and the sun was shining it turned in to a beautiful day!

The sea was actually pretty perfect - even though we all took dramamine, we didn't need it a bit, it wasn't rocky at all.

Jasko turned out to be less like a skipper and more like a tour-guide/life-coach!

He told us all about Croatia, the countryside, the islands, the war and his life while we sailed.

The view was beautiful - the coast was so green, and the water just sparkled!

After a few hours on the boat, some sun, and some Jimmy Buffett music (so cliche), we arrived.

Instead of docking the boat in Hvar Town on the island of Hvar, Jasko told us that he likes to stay on Palmizana instead, in the city of Saint Clement.

The marina was small and cute -- it matched the entire island!

We had some cappuchino at the marina cafe, and it was again delicious - Kevin was definitely in love.

Josko gave us a tour of the island - we walked clear across to the other side in about 10 minutes!

The island was beautiful - the beaches were untouched, with the exception of a few brave individuals who were swimming.

There was a restaurant on the other side of the island and the fresh fish smelled delicious, but we decided to wait and eat in Hvar Town.

We went back to the boat to "freshen up" - which, mind you, is rather difficult when you haven't showered in two days and have spent 8 hours in a car and the rest of the time on a boat.

But, we made do, and looked rather great -- in our humble opinions.

A bit of backstory for you:

The entire Croatian adventure got started when Chris read an article from Travel and Leisure magazine about the Dalmatian coast.

He mentioned Croatia to Abbey, who immediately said, "Croatia?  Isn't that next to Bosnia?  Chris, we're not going to freakin' Bosnia on vacation."

But, after reading this article, she was convinced... and quickly started e-mailing every sailboat company up and down the coast.

The article described Hvar as the new french riviera, where the world's most trendy and beautiful people convened to sip coctails, show off carmelized torsos, and revel until dawn - clearly, we had to be a part of that.

We took a water taxi to Hvar, which only took 7 minutes - the view as we pulled up to the city was incredible.

The entire town was built in to a natural cove, with a spectacular fortress up in the mountains looking over the water.

When we arrived, we immediately hit an ATM for krunks. The article had said, "these people could make an ATM withdraw look sexy" -- clearly, we had to be a part of that too.

After taking photographs of the world's sexiest ATM withdrawls, we decided to walk around and take it all in.

Though it was too cold for a display of carmelized bodies, we still got the instant charm of this island town.

There was an old church, St. Stephens, and a square filled with local kids playing soccer (Chris thought it was classic; Abbey thought they were a little annoying).

We walked down the entire waterfront - the water was so clear, and the turquoise color was beautiful.

We had only snacked all day (and Kevin hadn't eaten anything -- we were starving him, literally), so we decided we really needed to find some food.

While taking pictures of the main square, Jen wandered off - she came back and said, "there's a cool sign and a cool alleyway... I think we should explore and see if there is a restaurant."

We'll start by saying now, Jen wins M.V.P. of the day for that comment... because what came next was the best part of the day.

We walked about 50 feet down an old-world, classic alley to the world's most incredible restaurant, hands down.

The Konoba Luviji was a small restaurant with a patio - and an incredible view of the fortress, the church, and the entire town with the mountains in the background.

We ordered some wine, and attempted to order off the menu.

When we ordered grilled vegetables she said, "no, get the polenta, much better."

When we ordered one type of fish she said, "no that's not fresh today, get the red ugly fish, much better."

When we ordered risotto, she said "no, get the potatoes, much better."

We took her advice -- and damn, were we glad about that.

When our food came, we literally had a feast in front of us.  Abbey and Lauren shared seafood "Hvar Style" - which is Cro-at for every type of seafood you could imagine swimming in the most delicous red sauce made of fresh tomatoes, onions and pure heaven.

The Polenta that the waitress suggested was cooked perfectly, and she was right - it went perfectly with the heavenly red sauce.

Jen and Chris shared the "red ugly fish" - we think maybe it was a snapper? - cooked in a wood burning stove by a man who looked like The Wolverine; it came with the most flavorful onions, zucchini and tomatoes.

Kevin got the lamb, which was absolutely incredible as well - he also got buttery, glarlic mashed potatoes that were really beyond words.

Top it all off with salted anchovies, olives, fresh ham, and three bottles of local award-winning homemade wine, and we were forgave Croatia for the weather.

As we ate, the sun started setting over the city and the mountains -- the view from our table was literally breathtaking!

Especially because it had been a bit cloudy, the sunset was spectacular - every cloud was lit up a different shade of red, orange and pink.

When we looked the other way, away from the sunset, a beautiful, vivid rainbow had formed over the entire mountain -- it was honestly incredbile.

We were all stuffed -- but, there's always room for dessert!  We got homemade crepes filled with chocolate, and fresh cantalope covered in a warm honey sauce.

To top of an already perfect evening, the waitress brought an entire caraffe of grappa to our table - for free (commonplace for Cro-ats, a shock to us Americans) and instructed us to finish it.

We weren't about to argue with the waitress' order, since her other suggestions had been incredible... so we obliged her.

The only other couple dining in the restaurant pulled up a bench to our table and joined us for Grappa - he was a grad student from Harvard (not bad) working on his PhD in Munich, and both he and his wife were so nice and friendly.

We chatted with them for a while, and before we knew if the entire caraffe was gone... and we were all a bit tipsy (remember, we had already had three bottles of wine!!)

At this point, it was already 11:15... we had been at dinner for almost four hours!

The taxi was coming back for us at midnight, but we wanted to make sure to go to a bar called "Carpe Diem" which, according to the travel-and-leisure article, was the coolest bar on the island.

We walked down to the water, and found the bar - it was incredible!

Everyone inside was so trendy and good looking (though Chris kept telling the us we were the best looking girls in the place, such a gentleman).

Kevin wanted to tell some guy who was wearing aviators in the bar that he looked like an asshole - we held him back (partially because we didn't want to end up in Cro-at prison, partially because he actually looked pretty money in those shades).

We got mojitos - which seemed to be the drink of choice, all the "beautiful people" had one in their hands.

We sipped our drinks to sounds of euro-techno - which Abbey loved, but everyone else was pretty much sick of after 5 minutes.

We watched our taxi pull up, and sadly walked out of Carpe Diem, down the long red carpet that stretched to the water - you couldn't help but feel like a movie star in this place.

After an evening on Hvar, Abbey and Lauren decided Cro-at men are possibly the best looking men in the world -- from Luca on E.R. to our taxi driver, to the dock-boy at the marina, to the beautiful cro-ats in Hvar, they were honestly incredibly good looking.  It took a few "hhmmm, hmmmm's (read: look at that fine man)" to convince Jen -- but she finally agreed as well.

No offense Wade, you're cute too even though you're not a Cro-at.

We got back to our little island, and there was still a group of locals in the marina bar.

Chris got a bottle of wine off the boat and convinced everyone else to join him for some late night "reveling" (yet another must from the article, our new bible).

We stayed up for a while, but then it started to rain.

Chris, insisting he "wasn't drunk" and that polishing off half a caraffe of grappa just "didn't affect him," wanted to sleep in the freezing rain on the dock... spoken like a true sober person.

Abbey and Lauren finally convinced him to head to the boat -- and well all fell asleep.

All in all, it was an absolutely incredible day... by far, the best day of our European adventure so far!