SO HVAR SO GOOD

islands

It's often that being local you get asked which island in central/south Dalmatia is the most beautiful...and I say they're all beautiful just different. Same same but different. Each one of them has certain dialects, tastes, architecture, history, character and so on to be anatomized into details.

Komiža

Vis has often been my silent favourite – somehow as if being made to fit man's needs; self-sustainable, not too big nor too small, with spectacular southern coastline and its fields, farms and households spread around the island. Vis and Komiža – two towns, two pearls, two different worlds...there are many reasons why one would go to Vis and fall in love with it at first sight, it could be that its remoteness makes it so desirable, tempting. And it works every way you look at it. Greeks from Siracusa have landed to its shores around 397 BC and it became their first colony in the Adriatic known as Issa.

Being close to Split island of Brač has usually, unexpectedly and definitely undeservedly, been just seen by many only onboard a ferry on the way to other islands. Brač and not Brak, how it's usually pronounced, (latter in Croatian meaning marriage), is slightly bigger then Malta which has around 420000 inhabitants, while Brač only around 20000.

Brač

Malta is over populated, Brač has a lot of space, green vegetation, fields, olive grooves, natural beauties, pictoresque towns and villages, events. Zlatni rat – famous beach is just a tip of Brač's charm, but let's not forget about Blaca monastery, village of Škrip, stonemasonry in Pučišća and so on...
 
Right opposite it on the west side there's another „dark horse“ called Šolta. The two are separated by strait known as „The gate of Split“ and share an islet of Mrduja and every year they tie ropes to it and „pull“ it to see which island is going to get it for a year – crazy local customs, what can you do...

Šolta

Šolta is not on the main tourist charts, it's ignored by crowds as well as massive sailors' attacks and perhaps it should embrace that situation and turn it (touristically speaking) into its adventage. But discretely, to those wishing to see beyond the obvious.

Korčula is in my heart – my love is from there and although I haven't explored it as much as I would like to or should - its contrasts, myths, wines...have drawn me for years and I only rarely indulged my curiosity more...until recently.

Korčula

The old town of Korčula itself is a little wonder having been built following the pattern of fishbone to use the flow of wind as a natural air conditioning to survive summer months...

Hvar rocks

Somewhere in between this „spread out archipelago“ lays the island of Hvar that got its name again from Greeks who came in 385/4 BC from their island of Paros to present-day Starigrad. They named it Faros. Locals still call Hvar town simply For.

Greek era

What is there to see, one can wonder...did you know that on the UNESCO's list of material and non-material cultural heritage Hvar island has three assets? Well, apart from its history dating back all the way to stone age culture, Ilirian and Greek era artefacts, Roman villas, architecture and works of art that flourished during Venetian period, breathtaking sceneries,old  towns and villages scattered around the island in harmony with landscape (the old folks knew how to do it), ports, bars, restaurants, parties, there is island itself in its natural, unadulterad and silent existence.

abandoned medieval? town on Hvar

 Of course this shouldn't be taken as a fact unconditionally due to man's interventions into nature that sometimes reaches little bit too far...but still the pure essence of Hvar emerges when the summer heat subsides...as if it regains its full lungs capacity. September come and grapes are ready for harvesting and then to be processed into wine. Not long after that it's olive harvest and the year is almost over.

vineyards and sights

Visitors are very few; only some return at this stage of island life to witness south east wind known as jugo (jug stands for south) blowing sometimes for days rolling on and over the hills (and peoples' minds making them grumpy) crashing the waves onto the south exposed rocky shores washing the beaches out with driftwood and unpaired plastic shoes. Nothing changed there for thousands of years since Odysseus spontaneously arrived to the Adriatic carried by jugo winds.

boates are like people

 Boats are pulled out for winter dream, only the most persistent and dedicated fishermen still navigate the waters in colder months. Past the New year Hvar shares the life of many other Adriatic and Mediterranean islands seemingly hibernating till spring when the nature and spirits awaken once again. Although winter temperatures are considerably higher then in the rest of continental Croatia, (not to mention the number of sunny days), apart from when bura (cold wind from northeast) is blowing, springtime is perhaps the most enjoyable to wander around the island's trails, it's when the scents of herbs and plants and colours are the most intense and alluring.

with a view to Vis

Days are getting tangibly longer, temperature rises, life is suddenly promising more miracles to come, new hopes are floating in the air...if you can spare one or two weeks before things start getting serious, (meaning the season and visitors coming in bigger numbers), don't think twice, just make sure the forecast is good and go – trails, caves, herbs, villages, churches and chapels, dry walls, pebbles, hills, vallies, fields, winds, coves, currents, scents, flavours, sounds, colours and so much more are out there... 

nice

more stones

spring is in the air

shepherd's shelter

 

as good as it gets