Jelsa, Vrboska, Stari Grad--Scooter Adventure

We've had great weather in spite of showers predicted in the forecast.

The rain always came in short intervals at night or early morning.

But today storms required us to reroute our trip to avoid the open sea

(we've been corrected a couple of times that it's not an ocean, but a sea we're sailing)

and recouldn't stop in Vis (where Mamma Mia was filmed) and instead stop in Jelsa on Hvar island.

Jelsa is a tiny town next to Vrboska described by a friend as "little Venice"

so I was excited we'd get to see that. Also near to Stari Grad, a settlement dating back to 4 B.C.

As we got off the boat, the Smiths, Pauls and us passed a small bar where Antonio 

asked if we'd like to rent bikes or scooters which sounded like a fun way to sightsee.

And it was.

Except for a few problems.

His scooters were ooooooold.

Thankfully, in the end, we all ended up in one piece.

We met up with the rest of the group who walked to Vrboska, so we got a group photo,

and then we wandered around the one "main" cross path.

Michelle and Brent's scooter died as we arrived in Stari Grad just a block from the parking lot.

Call that a blessing. We called Antonio and he sent someone with another scooter to replace it with.

Stari Grad rivaled the beauty of every town we've seen so far.

We also found an Argentine restaurant and shared empanadas.

We wanted to get home before dark, and were in good shape until Todd got on his scooter and as he turned around to get out of his parking spot, the throttle became stuck open, taking him at full speed toward a wall and canal. He jumped off but his foot got stuck and for a split second he was sure it was broken.

But he walked away with some road rash and a limp.

Fortuntely Bev wasn't on the back yet.

The scooter dumped its oil and in an attempt to check things out, 

the men gathered round checking the oil, gas, throttle and in a miscommunication,

started the bike while Brent had his face near the oil can with the lid off.

Oil spewed everywhere, but not in his eyes. His jacket is ruined, but that was it.

Bev and Todd waited for Antonio to pick up the broken bike, and took a taxi back to port.

We rode back and made it before dark.

With gratitude for everyone's safety and the adventure,

we had a meal of burgers, fries and onion rings (then found gelato).

We've ate at fantastic restaurants everywhere we've been.

If Dora hasn't already given us direction, Dan finds great recommendations 

on Google and leads the way.