By Brandon
September 20, 2020 • 5 min read
After a beautiful 5 days in Dubrovnik, we drove back to Split and hopped on a ferry to the picturesque island of Vis.
Fun fact: The film Mamma Mia 2 was filmed on Vis even though the story takes place on the same Greek island as the first movie.
Our first stay was in a small apartment in the little town of Komiža, on the western coast of Vis. It was a modest accommodation but with a great view. Chris was also very taken with all the kittens roaming the alley behind the building (essentially a free cat cafe). She is now always prepared with cat treats in her purse.
For dinner, we searched for a well-reviewed nearby konoba (a Croatian tavern-style restaurant) and settled for Konoba & Villa Jastožera. When we got there, Chris thought it looked really familiar and it eventually dawned on her that she'd seen it in Mamma Mia! - turns out it's where they filmed a "Greek tavern" scene. It was a fun first konoba experience as the restaurant sits out over the water and you can watch them as they catch lobsters and pull them from the traps.
The waters around Vis are beautifully shallow with a number of secluded hard to reach beaches so we booked a private boat tour of the surrounding islands. Our tour guide was actually an American originally from California and he exuded an unmistakable "California beach bum" vibe. His boat was a tiny motorboat that kept a much more leisurely pace compared with our previous tour.
Komiža has a fun little old town that was surprisingly bustling at night, where we tried some wine and of course gelato.
Next, we spent a few nights in the town of Vis at the opposite end of the island (also named Vis). As usual, we checked out the local beaches like Mala Travna.
Walking around Vis it felt like a much more laid-back little town than Komiža. They are lots of little restaurants with delicious food and a great view of the sea. We even found a tasty brunch place practically right on the water.
Probably the most fun and unique experience had to be the quad ATV tour of the island we took. You follow a tour guide around the island to remote locations like former military bases and an abandoned bomb shelter - all while cruising up and down the hillside on ATVs. At each stop the guide explains the interesting history of the island — such as its strategic military importance. We highly recommend this tour if you ever find yourself on Vis.
At the recommendation of our airbnb host, we made sure to have dinner at Roki's to try Peka. Peka is probably the most iconic dish from Croatia's Dalmatia region; lots of Dalmatian homes have large outdoor fireplaces where they cook it. It's essentially meat (we chose lamb) mixed with lots of vegetables and slow-cooked for several hours in a cast iron pot inside a stone fireplace.
All in all, we had a great time on this charming little island with a surprising amount of history and friendly local peoples.
January 25th to February 20th After our brief stay in Singapore, we more or less spent the next month (from January 25th to February 20th) on various Thai islands. It was a blast and a really unique experience. Looking back on it I'm probably struck the most by how different the experience was on each of the islands. We also had some interesting experiences getting to and from the different…