Hvar Town
Hvar Town Bay
March 15, 2005
This morning I took off on the 8:30 ferry to Stari Grad on Hvar Island. The trip
was two hours instead of the advertised time, but I can’t complain since the trip
was relaxing and the water completely clear.
At the ferry port, there was a bus heading to Hvar Town so many of us jumped on
and after about 15 minutes through the mountainous countryside we arrived at Hvar
Town. Only about 100 meters from the bus station I found myself in the middle of
the town square, Trg Sv Stjepana.
I decided to first head up to the old Venetian Fortress atop the hill, where I ran
into three Brits from Plymouth. They were extremely friendly and it was kind of
nice to speak English. We climbed to the top together as we talked about why we’re
all in this part of the world, then we found the castle to be closed, so headed
down as we discussed the islands in the area along with Bosnia & Herzegovina.
Two of them live in Bosnia and are convinced that there will be a war again; the
tension is building and eventually one shot will begin it all they said. It’s a
sad state, but it’s true; they’re convinced the peace treaty was the worst thing
for that country since the underlying issues were never addressed or resolved.
On a lighter note, they taught me about caterpillars in the area that are practically
blind so follow each other in long lines of about 50 or 60 from head to tail. At
one point, the one girl blew on them and they all curled up, only a couple minutes
later did they extent themselves and try to find the one in front of them again.
They seemed alright as a whole once they started moving again.
After getting to the bottom of the hill, they took off to another part of the island
and I was on my own again. The day was relaxing and the whole town was seen in a
couple hours. I walked along the shore for awhile and just enjoyed the water, island,
boats, and scenery.
I then went back into town and walked along the streets, went up hills and looked
over the town. There was nothing to do, but walk; I tried to go to the museum, but
it was closed, although the courtyard was really nice.
The rest of the day was spent sitting on a bench eating food and ice cream from
the store while reading and letting my mind free itself from thought. The sun pounding
down; it's said Hvar Town is one of the sunniest places on earth and the sunniest
in Croatia; hotels give discounts on cloudy days.
The city isn’t too touristy yet, but the entire place was under construction, in
fact it was the only thing I could hear since there are no streets for traffic.
I’m glad I went now. The city was really quite beautiful, but a place my Mom would
like more than I did; glad I went, but soon got the 4:00 bus to Stari Grad then
the ferry back to Split.
Hvar Town Bay
Hvar Town Bay
Hvar Town Bay
Hvar Town Bay
St. Marko
Streets of Hvar Town