Is Hvar worth visiting?
Let me bring you the view from an islander, not from Hvar, from a much smaller island in Croatia, who lives in Split.
For people who live in Split, Hvar is the island you don’t visit during the busiest months in summer, too much crowd, no space on the beach, and high prices…but still the sensation, when you arrive, is magnificent.
How to get to Hvar
There are few possibilities for visiting Hvar. First and my favorite is a 7-day sailing cruise with entering in style.
Definitely the most expensive way, but, if you rent a sailing boat with 4 or 5 cabins and divide
expenses among four families or friends, the cost is quite reasonable.
And, we are sailing towards a beautiful island…
From Split to Hvar, there are beautiful spots for swimming and beautiful villages to visit. Take my advice, just anchor in one small bay with a turquoise sea, take a swim, prepare a light lunch and relax with a glass of white wine. This is one of the 5 most enjoyable things I’ve ever done. It probably will be the same for you.
City of Hvar
Not later than 4 pm we pass Galešnik and we are in front of the port of Hvar. Earlier, during lunch, we made the necessary phone calls with people responsible for moorings in Hvar port.
Thank God we have enough meters for this trendy port.
At the very entrance to the port, you become splashed by a wave of beautiful white stone of Arsenal with its theatre, Fortress Fortica, and Franciscan Monastery in front of which sway the tall masts of gorgeous sailboats and white decks of magnificent yachts.
Approaching to all of that beauty, you start to feel a deceptive sense of your own greatness and self-importance, that you are one of the chosen few who are allowed to moor your sailing boat along to them. But do not worry, enjoy it while it lasts.
You dropped the anchor, moor to the shore, cast an eye left and right, measuring your own size, throw pasarela and took a step on the solid Hvar stone. Hvar will welcome you right away with the Square of Sv. Stjepan/Pjaca from the 15th century. Take a walk to the Cathedral of Sv. Stjepan on the eastern side, stroll through the alleys “Kaletama”. Perhaps you’ll sense the past centuries of our small charming places, times when people turned to their neighbor, working in the fields and fishing.
The Hvar town will generously repay you with its fragrances of herbs and authentic heritage. You “must” visit Franciscan Monastery known for its magnificent painting of last Supper (8 x 2,5 m) which leaves everyone breathless.
But more on that subject follows.