Croatia Part IV: Stari Grad, Hvar

After a very trying 30 min walk back to the ferry, a 4 hour ferry ride, and another 30 minute walk with all our luggage, we arrived at our new place in Stari Grad on the island of Hvar. 

This was the first not-so-great Airbnb experience on the trip.  There was no one there to let us in when we got there, eventually a very annoyed neighbor came over and gave us the keys.  The apartment was small, there was basically no kitchen, and it was very uncomfortable.  Thankfully the beautiful town of Stari Grad more than made up for it.   We loved the town.   There are restaurants all around the bay with amazing yachts to gaze and dream about while we ate.

As you step away from the boardwalk along the water, you enter into the old town. Also incredibly beautiful.  Meandering narrow streets with quaint little shops, bars, and restaurants. 

We were looking at an old church one day when old man approached us and was telling us something in very broken English.  First we were uncertain how to react, my city instincts telling me to be careful.  We soon realized that he was a resident of the town and was trying to explain to us about the history.  He explained that Stari Grad is the oldest settlement on the Island and was founded in 384 BC by the Greeks.  He also explained that those first Greek settlers were from the island of Paros and originally named the town Pharos.  An amazing fact to us since we would shortly be going to stay on Paros.  We had no idea there was such a long history linking Stari Grad to one of our next stops in Greece!  He was such a nice man and so clearly proud of the history of his town.  It was a special moment.

Parts of the town had been built over Roman ruins.  The church we had been looking into (St. Roko) had been built over a roman bath house.  In another area of the old town there was a placard with a photo of when they had dug up the street in the 1930’s and discovered a Roman bathhouse as well. 

We visited an old ‘castle’ in the center of the town built by a very prominent Stari Grad aristocrat and poet Petar Hektorovic.  He built this renaissance castle in the 1500’s to entertain his friends.  It included a beautiful garden with Mediterranean and exotic plants as well as a very serene and picturesque fish pond. 

 Mostly we enjoyed walking along the waterfront and daydreaming about owning one of the many beautiful yachts.  The seed has been planted.

We visited Hvar town as well – about a 20 minute bus ride from Stari Grad.  Hvar is a much more touristy and busy town than Stari Grad but also incredibly beautiful. 

Hvar town is known as a bit of a party destination so we weren’t too interested in it but it was a pleasant surprise.  We climbed up to the medieval castle above the town that occupies the site of an ancient settlement dating from before 500 BC.    The Byzantines built a citadel here in the 6^th century, and the Venetians began construction on the present fortress in 1278.   The views looking down over Hvar and the Pakleni Islands are magnificent and well worth the steep walk up through the old town streets to reach the castle. 

We also had a day trip out to one of the beaches on the Pakleni Islands off the coast of Hvar town.  It was about $20 for all of us to get a water taxi to the beach from Hvar.  It was stunningly beautiful.  A small cove with a beach, beautiful clear turquoise water, and a couple of beachfront restaurants.  We had the most wonderful relaxing day.  If we had been staying in Stari Grad longer, we would have gone to that beach again. 

Our stay in Stari Grad was pretty awesome, despite having the worst apartment of our trip so far. So much history, beautiful places to visit, nice people, and amazing weather to enjoy it all in. We will be back someday….maybe on our sailboat (?)

Onward to Athens!!