Showing posts with label Places - Dalmatia - Island: Hvar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Places - Dalmatia - Island: Hvar. Show all posts

Jul 17, 2008

Stari Grad Plain on the island of Hvar – a new UNESCO World Heritage Site

The UNESCO added a new Croatian cultural site to the World Heritage list. Along with the Old Town of Dubrovnik, the Plitvice Lakes, Trogir, Diocletian’s Palace, Cathedral of St James in Sibenik and the Euphrasian Basilica in Porec, Stari Grad Plain (popularly also called Ager) is the 7th Croatian site listed on UNESCO World Heritage list. Stari Grad Plain is the oldest preserved ancient Greek land cadastral plan.



Hvar, the island in Adriatic Sea, is the longest and the sunniest Croatian island and according to many travel magazines one of the most beautiful islands in the world that lately become one of Croatia's most visited islands, attracting a diverse crowd of backpackers, yachties, honeymooners and pretty much anyone who visits central Dalmatia. The island is located right in front of Split and can be reached by catamaran boat or ferry in about one hour time. Its name derives from ancient Greek name for the island and the town - Pharos, where today is Stari Grad. Stari Grad was the main centre of the island until 13th century when the power was overtaken by the town of Hvar.

Its name derives from the Greek name for island and town, that stood where today Stari Grad stands - PHAROS.



The major places (all on the coast of the island) are: the town of Hvar, Stari Grad, Jelsa, Sucuraj and Vrboska. Its well-indented coast, numerous picturesque and intact beaches and bays, virgin nature, very rich historical and cultural inheritance, the scents of lavender, olive trees and wine are the reasons that island Hvar welcomes more and more tourists each year.



Stari Grad is the collective name for several small towns which grew and were later abandoned at the same place. It is located at the end of a bay on the northern side of the Island. Inclusion of Star Grad on the UNESCO World Heritage list is especially appealing since the region is much less well-known than the other UNESCO World Heritage sites in Croatia, giving visitors an extra reason to venture beyond the well beaten path that leads to popular Hvar Town.



A thousand years long history of the Town has left many monuments in the urban structure of the Town. Stari Grad is historical heart of the island Hvar, ancient Pharos. The plan of the Greek Pharos, reconstructed hypothetically, resembles a Roman town-planning scheme with an orthogonal screen. The stereometry of the cleaned town walls, numerous remains of Illyrian, Greek and Roman settlements, as well as early Christian, early Croatian and Romanesque layers have confirmed what the archaeologists supposed for centuries - that the Pharos, in its stratigraphy, is probably one of the richest locality of Croatian archaeological heritage, and that the whole island experienced an apogee at the end of ancient times.

Some of Stari Grad’s interesting sights include the parish church in Stari Grad, the fortified Dominican Monastery of St Peter the Martyr, the church of St Nicholas, the church of St Jerome, the church of St Rocco, and the most known building - Tvrdalj, the fortified building of the poet Petar Hektorović dating from the first half of the 16th century.

Hektorovic (1487-1572) is the author of the first realistic epic poem of Croatian Renaissance literature "Ribanje i ribarsko prigovaranje" ("Conversations about fishing"). His Tvrdalj is the central patrician building of the town. The design of this monumental Renaissance mansion was the poet's own idea, and just as he made a distinctive and realistic impact on Croatian Renaissance literature, he also made an impact on Stari Grad and the architecture of the town.





The true splendour of the Renaissance style is displayed in the interior. The centrepiece of the building is the fishpool, enclosed by a vaulted and arcaded terrace. Next to it is an elegant tower with a dovecote. The living quarters, the domestic area and the servant quarters, with several wells, are arranged around the fishpool. There is also a walled-in Renaissance garden where Hektorovic cultivated, with great love, not only Mediterranean plants, but some exotic ones as well, there are a series of inscriptions set into walls of the mansion in Latin and Croatian, which reveal the highly reflective and human side of the poet's character. The Croatian inscriptions are considered to be some of the oldest of those extant.

The Plain of Stari Grad

Right down to the present day, over the whole of the area of this Plain, its oldest piece of land division, the chora, created after the colonisation by the Greeks from the Aegean island of Paros in about 384 BC, is still almost totally conserved, as is clearly seen in all maps and aerial shots. This clarity on the land is all due to the hands of the farm laborers who from the most ancient times have bounded their plots with the many dry stone walls, of various different dimensions. Some of them are just a common fence between two holdings, while others (on the whole those that were built on the basis of the Greek surveyors’ lines) are very broad, and have also been used as roads.



Apart from that, there are also the country huts, trims or kažuns or bunjas as they are known – little beehive-shaped dry stone buildings in which tools were kept and in which it was possible to shelter during bad weather. Though the land is fertile, the Mediterranean climate, with its moderate precipitation, is the cause of frequent water shortages, for which reason over the whole of the field there are a great many large or small cisterns for the collection and retention of rainwater, almost always built below the surface of the land. The whole of the length of the northern part of the Plain, in the North-South direction, is the road that links Jelsa and Vrboska with Stari Grad and the other parts of the island. In the very centre of the Plain is a small earth strip created in 1950 for the crop spraying and fire fighting planes.

Since this flat land is the greatest and most fertile field on any of the Adriatic islands, particularly in the centre of the archipelago, today too, as through the whole of its history, it has retained its primary agricultural nature, without any construction to jeopardize the original image. These are the classic products of Mediterranean agriculture, the grape vine and the olive tree.

Contacts between the island of Hvar and the Greek world commenced in a more major way in the 6th century BC. The Adriatic Sea became increasingly interesting to Greeks in the Hellenistic period. When Issa was founded, Dionysius’ colony on the island of Vis, in about 394 BC, the Greeks started their drive to the other Dalmatian islands and the mainland.

First to bear the brunt of this expansion was Hvar island, where the inhabitants of the Aegean island of Paros, in 384, with the assistance of Dionysius, founded their colony of Pharos (today Stari Grad).
In parallel with the construction of the city, the subdivision of the Plain started out; this was actually a key moment in Stari Grad and Croatian history, one that was to leave its mark on this land forever.

The Greek colonists, that is, divided the area described into 75 cadastral plots, chora, as they are called, measuring 181 x 905 metres. The land in each individual chora was further divided by lot (perhaps into 5 squares of 181 x 181 m), and between the individual holdings, stone boundaries were placed, some of which have been found (that of Mathias Pitheo for example).

Very likely people actually lived in the Plain as well, as shown by archaeological finds (the most of them are in the region of Stari Grad).

In the Roman period the whole island was criss-crossed with traces of working and leisure facilities, with a great concentration in Hvar, Stari Grad and around Jelsa. Greek Pharos changed its name and became Roman Pharia.

All this time, the island of Hvar lived the life of the classical island, of grapes, fishing, and commerce, as shown by the many archaeological traces. In Stari Grad a layer of Roman houses richly equipped with floor mosaics has been preserved (street Sridnja kola). In the surrounds of the town, i.e., in the Plain, the Romans built their working and leisure facilites, the villae rusticae. The best known, partially-investigated, such villa is north of Dol, at the site known as Kupinovik.

Apart from these, the Romans also built water cisterns, some of which are still in use.

The Plain was also used for burials, as shown by the occasional finds of graves.



Jun 14, 2008

Carpe Diem - Summer Sexiest Parties



Hvar is one of Croatia’s the most hyped and posh places. During July and August it is packed with tourists so anyone seeking for crowds and parties shouldn't miss Hvar town. Favorite Hvar's beaches are scattered on nearby Pakleni islands. There one can find rocky and pebble beaches, nudist beaches, but the real party begins after swimmers return to the town.





















One of the most popular places to party is notorious Carpe Diem bar. Situated right on the harbour, its sensuous after beach parties are famous. The best time is between 5-6 PM, when people return from beaches and stay for some dancing before they dress up for night out. Dress code is very strict, the less the better. And when the night comes, Carpe Diem transforms into a posh place where beautiful girls wear their the sexiest outfits and where the boys try to impress them.


















Summer, beautiful people, sunglasses, funky sounds, expensive cocktails and soon you'll find yourself doing something tomorrow you'll rather forget. But don’t worry, in the morning you can go to carpe Diem again and have some breakfast.

This place is like a magnet, pulsing with beat and energy, a place to see and to be seen. A bit snobbish and pretentious as well? Depends, but that only seems to attract even more people. After all, summer holidays are not meant to be, too intellectual.

And like all of that isn’t enough, in season 2008 Carpe Diem is opening its beach branch on the small island of Stipanska (part of Pakleni archipelago), right in front of the old town of Hvar.

Web: www.carpe-diem-hvar.com

Little something to get you into mood:

Jun 10, 2008

Hvar among The 10 best European beach parties

The Times has picked up 10 the beast European places for partying at the beaches. Among traditional hotspots such as Ibiza, Mykonos and Rimini and some colder destinations in Northern Europe, one of Croatia’s top destinations has manged to enter top 10. No surprising, it is the town of Hvar on the island of Hvar.



The Times says:
Hvar Island is the Dalmatian coast’s big party player. As its beaches are not the sandy stretches of paradise you’d traditionally associate with such affairs, the Carpe Diem waterfront bar gets all the action, and the music gets turned up rather than down at midnight.
The party: Carpe Diem is opening a new beach bar-restaurant this summer. Consisting of three separate bars, Carpe Diem Beach (www.carpe-diem-beach.com) will overlook Stipanska, a shingly beach on Palmizana, a small island about 20 minutes away by water taxi from Hvar.
Insider info: Carpe Diem Beach will be an afternoon/early-evening affair. When night falls, head back to the original Carpe Diem on the Hvar waterfront.

Read the whole article here.


Further reading:
Hvar - info and accommodation
Hvar.hr
Jelsa online
Sucuraj
Sunny Hvar

Mar 16, 2008

The island of Hvar

Hvar (old names Pharos/Lesina), pronounced "hwahr", is a island, located in the central Dalmatia, in the vicinity of, and within the region gravitating towards, the city of Split. Hvar is administratively part of the Split-Dalmatia county of Croatia.

Mountainous island of Hvar is spread out from west to east to around 68 km and is the longest island in the Adriatic. Total surface is 300 km2 and the highest peak is 628 m (St. Nicolas).

Perfumed by the scent of lavender, Hvar is one of the most hyped and beautiful of all the Croatian islands and has been a favorite getaway ever since the Romans. It is also the most visited island in Croatia often referred as Croatian St. Tropez.

The island is characterized by gentle winters, warm summers and many hours of sunshine. It is just as attractive in the winter, as it is in the summer. Hvar holidays are a mixture of splendid buildings, lavender and rosemary fields, olive groves, carefully cultivated vineyards, palm trees, aloes, pine trees, beautiful rocky and pebbled beaches and a warm, blue sea.

One of the most famous folk products on the island of Hvar is "Queen's wash", the pure distillation of rosemary oil which was recommended by travel writers from the 19th century for gargling the throat and against scurvy.
Hvar is also the island of the pink fields of lavender. This aromatic plant of exceptional quality developed all over the fields of Hvar. The lavender oil is used for destroying moths and for the production of perfume and lotion. It blossoms in June, July, and August. You simply can't leave the island without purchasing some lavender oil.

Larger resorts include:
  • the town of Hvar - the largest settlement on the island and one of the most popular resorts on the whole of the Adriatic Sea
  • the town of Stari Grad - ancient Greek Pharos, the town where past centuries mingle with modern tourist facilities
  • Jelsa - the small town on the northern part of the Island, an important maritime and agriculture center
  • Vrboska - a picturesque village of compact stone houses known for its red wines
  • Sucuraj - more than 2,300 years old, the most important port on the eastern side of the island
  • Sveta Nedjelja - the village below the highest peak on the island, St. Nikola, known for its quiet pebbly beaches


The Paklinski otoci (Paklinski islands) are the one of the most attractive and most visited spots on the island, just to the west of Hvar town. Pakleni are a series of eleven wooded islands, three of which have simple bars and restaurants, and also there is a popular yacht marina. They can be reached from Hvar town by motor taxi boats that leave about every 15 minutes.
Southern coast of the island is full with perfect little pebbly bays. It is a favorite destination for many swimmers and sunbathers from Hvar town.

How to reach Hvar?
Hvar is connected by ferries or catamarans from Split, Drvenik (near Makarska), Bol (the island of Brac), Ancona (Italy) and Pescara (Italy).

Accommodation
Adriatica.net has a great choice of various accommodation facilities including apartments, rooms and hotels (Adriatic, Amfora, Bodul, Dalmacija, Palace, Pharos, Slavija) in Hvar town and other settlements on the island of Hvar including Stari Grad (Hotel Arkada, private rooms and apartments), Jelsa (Hotels Mina and Fontana, private rooms and apartemnts), Vrboska (apartments and rooms), Sucuraj (apartments and rooms), Sveta Nedelja (apartments and rooms), Zavala (apartments and rooms), Milna (apartments and rooms) and other places.

Further reading
Hvar.hr
Jelsa online
Sucuraj
Sunny Hvar

Feb 18, 2008

140 years of tourism in Hvar



One of Croatia's the most popular (and most chic) resorts, Hvar town on the island of Hvar, is celebarting this year 140 years of organized tourism.

Hvar geographic position, its favourable climate, clear sea and rich culture heritage favoured the development of the organized tourism in the distant 1868, when the «Health Society»was founded. The society was stimulating and going in step with tourism development. It was opening the gate to make it the most important branch of the town economy and bringing Hvar to the fame of a world wide known tourist destination visited by most demanding and famous visitors from all over the world.

Hvar is the longest and sunniest Croatian island – and many say - one of the most beautiful islands of the world.