Town Hvar on the Island of Hvar

Oh what a lovely weekend! It feels as though I have been away for a week, not just overnight. It’s funny because I have always thought that it was such a mission to get to Hvar, but it is only a ferry ride of one hour 15 minutes – easy. And the ferry is airconditioned to boot. I took the early bus from Makarska, was in Split by 9.30 (coffee) and on the ferry by 11.30 and off again in Hvar just before one.

I want to paint a picture for you – The island of Hvar is the sunniest of the islands, getting an average of 2724 hours of sunshine each year and is the heart of the lavender production in Croatia (for lavender oil and the fragrant flowers). The town of Hvar is so beautiful that it now attracts the super yacht super beautiful super rich crowd, including the exclusive French Cruise ship that was anchored outside the town today. They people who disembark from these boats have three suitcases to our one, and someone in a uniform to carry said bags…

The crowds are completely different from Dubrovnik, Makarska and even Split. I didn’t spot any walking tour groups, but did hear a lot of English being spoken – young Americans, Brits and most of Australia was there . (Question to the group – why do the young Australians travel in such large groups? – they are very visible, especially after alcohol).

The town is elegant with soft hues. It is silk to cotton and champagne to chardonnay. It is subtle and understated. Does that help the picture?

Anyway, there we were, four of us – Marina, Suzana, Maja and I. Maja is an official translator, and the law requires a wedding which involves someone who isn’t a native Croatian speaker to have a translator present to repeat everything so there is no chance of a disgruntled person coming back after the wedding and saying that they ‘didn’t really understand what was required of them and, please could they just get out of the marriage contract.’ She had two weddings to translate on Saturday.

We dumped our bags at the apartment we were renting and raced to the nearest beach – even right here in the centre the water is gin blue and clean.

Hvar is a small contained town that doesn’t have even have street names. It dates back to the Illryian Tribes who fought with the Greeks in 4th century, but most of the architecture is 13th century with a mixture of Gothic and Venetian flavor. There are a couple of electric cart things to deliver goods, a couple of taxis, but apart from that, the town is closed to traffic leaving the centre with a tranquil medieval air.

Later in the evening when the swallows were swooping through the air, we sat and ate enormous pizzas in one of the sought after cafes and then joined the promenade. The town square (Trg Sveti Stjepana) is paved with marble and is a bit of a challenge for those gorgeous high shoes that the gorgeous young things with gorgeous long legs were wearing, but they weren’t to be put off.

After a few hours we positioned ourselves in a new jazz bar and drank mohjitos, crowd watching, and then wandered a bit more through the quiet streets that rise from the town square. At the very top of these streets are the ramparts which formed part of the original walled town. You can see it in the photos. Check out the thickness of the walls.

The church at the end of the square had the most incredible doors – the carvings on them were interesting, as were the inscriptions.

It was after midnight before we went to bed but the rest of the town (particularly the ones outside our window), waited until much later.

Coffee and pastries in the morning, and then onto a taxi ferry to one of the many islands which surround Hvar – we chose the closest one Jerolimu. Stunningly simple, stunning clear water (are you tired of me saying that?) beautiful smooth pebbles. And then reclined in a bar called Amo for cocktails before we returned to catch the ferry….

Oh, and one of the things that has struck me again and again in Croatia, and was really apparent in Hvar was the Children Thing. Let’s talk about that tomorrow.