Sunday 22 September

 Last night we found a pizza place overlooking the bay and enjoyed pizza and beer sitting by the waterside. It was a lovely night. We did not stay up late as we had an early morning departure - 5.45 am.

While the sound of the engine did wake us up we drifted off again until 6.45 am. It is a beautiful sunny morning with flat seas. We are on our way to the island of Vis and have a bus tour to Komiza on the other side from where we are moored.  Vis is the main city on the island and it is a beautiful harbour to sail in to. It is quite busy with a number of yachts heading out. 

The road to Komiza is narrow and has many tight turns as it climbs through the mountains to the other side. Our driver has his granddaughters with him so we feel pretty safe. In places there is not enough room for the bus and a car to pass each other, and one has to pull over and let the other one through. It is amazing how our driver navigates the tight turns and how close the bus and cars are when they pass!

As we head out of Vis we get some great views of the town. The island is an amazing place and we are surprised we have not heard about it before now. It is a strategic place in the Adriatic Sea, so much so that the British and allied forces had bases established on the island and built an airfield inland to control all the surrounding area. We learn that there are 30kms of roads and 30 kms of underground tunnels. There are underground bunkers and storage areas scattered over the island. Our guide is fantastic and full of information and very entertaining.

Once past the airfield we head down to Komiza. We pass a cricket pitch, and being a Sunday a game is in progress. This is a remnant from the war, but it is played on a regular basis. We are way above the town of Komiza and there are some spectacular views as we wind our way down. It is a very pretty town nestled in a harbour. We are told there are a number of Hollywood stars that holiday here and we can understand why. The harbour marina has boats tied up everywhere and the waterfront is filled with hotels and restaurants. We stop there for 30 minutes and then head back to Vis and our ship.

We are now off to Split.

Vis

Grass airfield

Komiza