On the other side of the island from Vis Town, sits the small fishing village of Komiza. Despite being only a 15 minute drive from Vis Town, the two towns are very different. Vis Town has a similar feel to Hvar Town, with lots of yachts in the harbour and bars and restaurants lining the promenade.
In comparison, Komiza is much quieter and has a more local feel. Vis attracts the yachting crowd and feels more upmarket, whereas Komiza feels laid back and relaxed, like you could spend half the day sitting in a tiny cafe watching everyone going about their lives.
We were staying in an apartment just outside Komiza at the Apartmani Kolelastra, a small complex with 5 apartments run by a lovely couple who greeted us with wine and a very strong spirit on arrival! All the apartments have balcony's with great views out over Komiza. We stayed in Apartment 3, which I think seemed to have the best view.
Our favourite part about staying here was that it was surrounded by fig trees, and we stopped to grab a handful everytime we came in or out. I don't like figs usually, but it's hard to beat fresh fruit straight off the tree.
It was already dark by the time we arrived, so we only had time to pop into town to grab a quick dinner before heading back to the apartment for bed, we were shattered having been up since 5.00 a.m.
The next morning we slept in after meaning to get up early to explore, so we got ready and headed down for breakfast at a small cafe next to the harbour. This is how the day seems to start for most of the locals too, enjoying a coffee and a pastry while chatting with friends. Most of the locals are of the older generation, the owner of our apartment told us that many of the younger people from Vis head off to the mainland or overseas for work, before returning home when they're older to retire.
After breakfast we wandered through the town and along the waterfront towards the beaches furthest away from Komiza Town, Kamenice Beach. This is popular with the yacht week crowd, young groups of English, Aussies, Kiwi's etc.. who sail around Greece and Croatia during the Summer months. We came across them in Hvar when we last visited, but luckily it was the end of the season so we didn't have to contend with drunk twenty somethings.
The walk around the coast was beautiful, the views out over Komiza and the surrounding islands were amazing. There is also a thick forest of trees surrounding the beach, which meant it was mostly in shade at the time we visited.
Whilst the scenery was beautiful we weren't too impressed with the actual beach, I think the beaches closest to town are nicer for swimming and seem to get the all day sunshine. But it's worth it for the walk and to dip your toes in the water before making your way back to town.
In the late afternoon we headed back to our apartment for some lunch and to relax on the balcony. In the distance we could hear a huge rumbling sound and couldn't figure out what it was until we saw lightning flashing across the sky. A storm was coming and we watched it coming toward us for over an hour.
Realising after a while that we didn't have anything for dinner, we went back down to Komiza to grab some food, thinking that the storm was still a while away.
As we arrived in town these huge storm clouds came rolling in over the island, turning visibility to almost zero and the sky went pitch black. We had time to duck under a canopy outside a grocery store before the heavens opened and the storm hit.
The rain was so heavy and went on for around an hour, sending rivers of water running through the streets of Komiza and flooding the town with about 2 inches of water.
When the rain stopped we grabbed our groceries and ran back to the apartment, getting soaked in the process as the rain started again. Safely back at home we opened a bottle of wine and ate cheese from the comfort of our living room while watching the storm.
After a few hours the storm stopped and the sun came out, so we went for a walk down to the beach where we found a huge amount of seaweed all over the beach brought in by the storm, and wandered through the back alleys of Komiza town, sloshing our way through the water in our jandals, trying not to slip over.
We had a few of these huge storms during our week on Vis, apparently this summer was the wettest summer Croatia has seen for years. Luckily the storms come and go within a few hours, usually in the middle of the day, leaving the mornings and afternoons free for exploring and sitting on the beach.
The next day we took the advice of our hosts and hired a car from Komiza town to explore more of the island. Buses on Vis really only coincide with the ferries, so to really get to the best beaches and smaller towns, you either need to hire a car or scooter.
Our hosts arranged a small car for us at a ridiculously cheap price, and picking it up was super easy. We didn't need to put down a deposit or credit card details, we just grabbed the keys and off we went. There is pretty much one road that goes around the entire island and is quiet with very few cars on the road.
We drove up to the highest point of the island, Mount Hum, but the sky was still grey from the day before and we couldn't see very far. So we continued driving to the small town of Rukavac where we stopped for lunch at a small restaurant called Konoba Dalmatino, where we had fresh seafood pasta overlooking a beautiful rocky beach.
After lunch we headed down the road a short distance to our favourite beach on the island, Srebrna beach. The beach is covered in huge rocks and the water is crystal clear. It's about a 5 minute walk down a hill from the carpark, and navigating our way across the beach was difficult, we kept slipping off the big stones so we had to walk very slowly.
The view was so beautiful and we were lucky to be in the one spot on the island that was in the sun. We perched on the rocks for a while and swam in the warm water, relaxing for a couple of hours before heading off to the next beach.
Our next stop was the tiny town of Milna which has two beaches close by. The first is Milna beach which is right off the road and is sandy which makes a nice change. We bypassed this beach and walked around the coast for about 20 minutes before arriving at Zaglav Beach, known for being one of the best on the island.
Unfortunately I think the storm the previous day had kicked up a lot of rubbish and seaweed, so whilst the beach was sandy and the water warm, it felt a bit too unclean for us and we moved on after a short while. The beach itself was almost deserted, and it was lovely to swim at a sandy beach again, not having to worry about sea urchins or spiky rocks.
On our way back to Komiza, we stopped at a wine shop that seemed to be popular, with lots of people sitting outside enjoying the last of the afternoon sun. We both had an excellent glass of red that went straight to my head after a long day of sitting on a beach in the sun. So stopping after just one glass, we headed back to Komiza in time for sunset.
We finished our last day on Vis with a bottle of wine and a takeaway pizza on our balcony, being so close to Italy, the pizza and Italian food in general is excellent and it was lovely to relax after such a busy day.
We headed off to bed early, as we'd be heading off on the early Fast Ferry to Trogir, to spend the next couple of nights on the mainland before heading home to London.
what a continued great experience for you both, your travel blogs are so informative and really make the place come alive.
ReplyDelete