Hvar

By the time I finally reach my next destination, I will have taken one ferry and at least three buses to get there—about 10 hours from hostel to hostel. Some distances are more difficult to cross than others, regardless of how such distances are quantified, but each is a new adventure.

Hvar is a lovely port town that lies just off the coast of Croatia and has a tendency to attract a lot of young college students. I stayed at a hostel where I was fortunate enough to meet a group of young college girls from Britain. We went out together my last night in Hvar, and I left them at close to 1am when they boarded a boat to continue the drunken festivities while I returned to the hostel to prepare for the next day of traveling. (I am, after all, not as young as I used to be, and have never been overly fond of the Dionysian revelry so common among college-aged youths). But it was nice to go out and see Hvar’s nightlife.

As we walked out to the loud, crowded bars, I talked to one of the girls and conveyed to her the similarity I observed between Hvar and New York City. She seemed surprised at this, but for me, they have a lot in common.

Hvar, like NYC, has a lot of history. In fact, Hvar’s history is far longer than New York’s, but like the bustling city, you wouldn’t think to look at it that it had much history at all. Sure, there are buildings here and there that give an echo of what the city’s been, but for the most part, it denies its history, living in the current moment.

You won’t see much of all Hvar’s been walking through the city, besides maybe a distant fort or old church or piece of stonework. Hvar was colonized by the Greeks in about 384 BC, and since then, it has been under control of Romans, Byzantines, Venetians, Neretvans (Slavs), Austrians, French, and English… and has been passed off a countless number of times. Yet, you’ll find little to tie the island to its historic roots; that’s not what the city is, not who the city purports to be. It is a city of the now; a city that doesn’t look back, and therefore, like New York, it makes the perfect destination for youths who also don’t have much of a past, and who are interested in the now.

In Mongolia, there is a saying that to visit a land you should drink the water—kind of like a “when in Rome” sort of saying. It’s one I try to follow, so while in Hvar, I tried to forget my history and live in the now: lounge on the beach, go out at night, lose myself a little. But though all of these things are fun, I realize that this culture isn’t really mine. (Accept maybe the lounging on the beach and swimming in the sea; I think I’ll keep those).

And maybe it’s good to lose yourself a little, to live in the now and not let yourself be restrained by old fears or regrets. Traveling, I think, does that: already Hvar is part of the past, and I live in the now of the lovely Croatian coastline moving past me. Dubrovnik is just ahead.