Dave's Bucket List

The term "bucket list" hasn't been around all that long. Coined by a screenwriter in 2007 for a movie of the same name, it's a phrase that quickly caught on with people making their lists of things they want to do in their lifetime.

Today, we crossed off one of those items from Dave's list!

The island of Lastovo is a long ways out from land. It's actually a collection of 46 islands, with the largest one named Lastovo.

A few years ago we anchored for the night on this island, but didn't actually go anywhere farther than a restaurant at the harbor. Dave always said he wanted to come back and explore the island.

Today was the day!

After tying up our boat, we started the hike up to the town of Lastovo (yes, named the same as the island), taking in the magnificent views from up above.

The hike was gorgeous, with completely different foliage on this island than what we're used to on Hvar. It's much more deciduous, with almost no pine trees (at least from what we could see), which are common on Hvar. In fact, it's almost jungly, with vines creeping through the forest.

After a half hour walk, we crested the hill into the town.

Since we'd seen almost no one hiking up, I was surprised to see a German tour group at the chapel!

Of course there were some locals hanging out there too.

We met an interesting woman as we stood looking out over the town. She and her film producer husband bought an old house here ten years ago and have been in the process of renovation for the past four years. Even though she has Croatian roots, with a French husband and them now living in the UK, it was near scandal level that a townsman sold them property as no foreigners had EVER owned something in the town! Usually property stays in the family.

She said they've worked hard at building relationships all these years, but with just 650 people on the whole island, it's a pretty tight clan of 11 or 12 families that mostly make up the population. So very interesting to hear about it from her perspective.

She also told us the two perspectives on why this town is located where it is. Unseen from sea, some people say it was settled there in the 7th century to protect themselves from pirates who roamed the sea.

But she says the real reason people chose to settle here is because they WERE the pirates!

Who knows what the truth is, but in any case, it's a walk back in time to roam the streets here.

Many of the buildings are in ruins, others in some state of renovation. All are quaint and beautiful in some way.

Set down in a valley, there are hundreds of stairs leading everywhere throughout the town. We loved wandering up and down, exploring the beautiful nooks and crannies everywhere.

Since it was lunchtime, we decided to look for a place to eat. Nestled down in a shaded garden, we found Konoba Fumari to be the perfect spot to enjoy some nourishment.

Tourist season is nearly over here, so there were no other patrons while we waited for our food.

Our sweet waitress is a local who studies at university in Split, a five hour ferry ride away. She comes for the summer to work in her hometown.

When we asked if she wants to live here she said, "Not now as I'm enjoying my studies - but when I get married and have a family, yes!"

With a small menu, we ordered "chicken, vegetables and cheese", and assumed it wouldn't take long for our order to arrive.

But after 30 minutes, it still wasn't there. With no one else there, it was hard to understand why the food was taking so long.

When we asked our waitress how long it would be, she laughed and said, "Oh a while longer". At that news, Dave put his head down and literally fell asleep!

An hour after we'd ordered, our food arrived. It was nothing like what we thought we were ordering! I assumed it would be grilled chicken and vegetables with a side of cheese.

Little did we know it would be something completely different, something I've never eaten before. But something I will DEFINITELY order again, given the chance!

On the order of a quiche, but with chicken as the "crust" it was a layered and baked egg, vegetable and sheep cheese dish that was positively one of THE tastiest things I've ever eaten. I wish it had been twice the size! It was surely worth the wait.

After enjoying every bite, we continued our walk through town.

At the heat of day, no one was out except us, which gave a certain sense of "back in time" as we meandered our way through the empty streets.

As we wandered through, you couldn't help but imagine what all these walls and streets have seen over the past 1500+ years. Who were the people who walked in these very places? What was life like for them? And as I always, wonder, did they know the Lord?

We took one last moment to enjoy the view of Lastovo town, and then headed back down to the harbor.

As we got back on to our little boat to continue on our way, a happy Dave said, "Thanks for going with me to one of the places on my bucket list."

"Anytime Dave, anytime!"