#AAAinCroatia: The Villa, Day 1 and Fresh Island Festival

Hey everybody! If you caught yesterday's post you'll have seen the first of my photos from my time on the island of Pag in Croatia with ASOS, Slydes and Croatia Wave. In today's post I'm going to talk a little bit about the absolutely stunning villa we stayed in and what we got up to in the first couple of days so prepare for a very photo heavy post but I promise they're good ones!

THE VILLA

Amelia and I were staying in the villa with a number of other journalists and PRs and as you can see it was nothing short of stunning. I think my favourite thing about it was the location. We woke up after arriving in the middle of the night and opened our curtains to absolutely breathtaking views of the mountains in the background, the deep blue sea and a lovely garden, complete with a pool and comfy seating area. The second photo down? Yep that was what we woke up to every morning. Paradise. 

The villa was part of Croatia Wave, one of the companies which were sponsoring our trip. Croatia is a hotspot for music festivals on the beach and Croatia Waves makes it easy to book your festival tickets, villa or apartment and transfers all in one package. They offer 5* villa experiences or apartments depending on your budget and offer packages all over Croatia, from Dubrovnik to Hvar. While they are holiday/festival package specialists, they also encourage you to explore and experience Croatia itself, which is what we did on our trip and it was right up my street. Wherever Karl and I go on holiday we get out and explore the place and experience as many different things as we can so although I did enjoy a day of chilling by the pool, it was the experience I was really looking forward to.

DAY 1: WINE TASTING AND LUNCH AT HOTEL BOSCINAC

So, on our first day we headed to the beautiful Boskinac Hotel, one of the finest restaurants on the island, for a morning of wine tasting and lunch to follow. As you all know I don't drink so I'm definitely not accustomed to the taste of wine so it definitely was an experience! Wine all tastes the same to me so I can't really vouch for it but Amelia is a seasoned wine drinker and assured me that it was good wine! We were served with a plate of posh nibbles with the red wine, including Pag cheese and octopus which was absolutely lovely. Despite not being a drinker I did really enjoy the tasting of the different wines, even if I didn't enjoy the taste of the wine itself; it is always nice to experience the different foods and drinks a place has to offer so the Boskinac wine tasting was definitely great for that!

After the wine tasting, we headed upstairs onto a terrace for a three course lunch which was absolutely spectacular. I don't eat meat at home but when I go abroad I do as like I said above I like to properly experience the cuisine a place has to offer. We were served rib eye steak for our main course which was sliced into chunks of tender meat (it was delicious!) followed by a duo of desserts. This was without a doubt my favourite part of the meal - apple pie is always a winner in my eyes! The meal and the wine tasting together cost 25 kuna a head, which works out at about £25. I was so shocked when I realised it was that cheap but it was similar throughout the trip - Croatia is such an affordable place, I had no idea! 

The other guys headed off to a Croatia Wave boat party later in the afternoon and then onto the festival but Amelia and I chose to chill by the pool. We were still exhausted after our flight the day before so just had a nice afternoon reading books with our feet in the pool. Bliss! Plus, I was very stressed out after losing my passport in Zadar airport, so much so I actually got quite sick on the night! Luckily one of the Croatia Wave taxi drivers, Tommy (who was one of the nicest guys ever), got a hold of my passport and brought it back to the villa for me. How amazing is that?! Tommy is definitely my hero! 

NIGHT 2: FRESH ISLAND FESTIVAL

On the second day we visited Krka National Park (more on that in my next post!) and after having a beautiful dinner we were headed to the festival. On our way, the guys said they had a surprise for us and we were taken down to the harbour where we were picked up by two speedboats!! Coolest. Thing. Ever. We sat on the front of the boats and spent so long racing each other and zooming around the sea with great music playing and I cannot tell you how much fun it was! I don't think I've ever laughed so much as I did then, taking photos with Amelia's hair flying everywhere and pulling "rich laugh" faces (Joe?), it was such a fantastic experience.

It's safe to say we arrived at the festival in style (travelling by car back at home is now such a bummer) and I'll admit I didn't think I would like the festival. I've only been to one other festival in my life which was Download (obviously the two are very different!) and as a non-drinker I didn't think it would be my cup of tea. I was so wrong and actually ended up having a really good time. The DJs we saw were insanely good and played some amazing mixes, including tracks from Snoop Dogg, Calvin Harris and hip hop music I wasn't familiar with but did enjoy! Tim Westwood was my favourite DJ of the night (although he did say some rather bizarre things during his set that I couldn't possibly repeat ha!) and even though staying up until 3am isn't my usual thing considering I'm usually in my pjs with a cup of tea by 11oclock I really did have a great time!

Stay tuned for my next post, where I'll be talking about Krka National Park and Zadar Old Town!

Amy x

p.s. don't forget to enter my giveaway to win a £50 WearAll voucher! Enter here.