Hvar Miscellany

Beyond the Hvar Fortress that I visited this morning, there are few major, named tourist attractions in Hvar. I visited most of them, along with doing some random roaming around. Hvar is mainly just a pleasing seaside town to spend some time in.

Alcohol seems to play a role in that pleasing. There are many bars here. And although they’re not crowded now that it’s the shoulder season, they do get customers who enjoy their libations through much of the day and probably night. (I’m not a night owl. So I don’t know.)

Who am I to fight against custom? A glass of wine with lunch, another with dinner, and an afternoon Aperol Spritz marina-side added to my happiness in Hvar today.

Marina

About Hvar’s marina. As I either mentioned or intended to mention this morning, it’s in an inlet off the sea. (I don’t remember if I did mention it. I’m too lazy to go back and look.) I don’t imagine that the inlet’s three sides would have perfectly straight edges naturally, but a stone-tiled promenade along those sides makes it so.

Cars don’t drive on the promenade, but the very occasional delivery or utility vehicle does.

As I mentioned yesterday, it was already dark when I arrived. In the dark, close to where the ferry docked, I saw what I thought were a few large yachts parked in the marina, across from my hotel.

I know that the more usual word to use when speaking of yachts in a marina is “docked,” not parked. Nevertheless, I insist on using parked.

Only one of the what I thought were yachts was tied to the dock. The others floated in a column, one beside the other. I couldn’t see the boat configuration due to the dark, but the outer boats clearly must have tied to the inner one beside it.

By the time I got out this morning, all of the boats were gone.

At about 3:30 this afternoon, they started to return. And they parked in the same configuration as last night.

I saw four boats parked this way. Passengers on the outer boat must have to cross the inner boats to get to the promenade that forms the dock.

In the light, I saw they aren’t large yachts, but small cruise ships. They all have a similar design, with three decks. The lower deck has a half dozen or so doors to what I assume are cabins. I assume the other side mirrors that configuration. The front of the middle deck has windows on what I imagine is a common area. The back half is an open area with seating. The top deck is open and has loungers.

The back of the boats have steps into the water. I’m only guessing, but I think the cabins are change rooms for swimmers., not sleeping accommodations. Each had only a small curtained window in the door, not elsewhere. This, coupled with the fact that all the boats returned well before night, bolsters my hypothesis.

So now you know about the not-yachts. Why you want to know is a mystery to me, but I have to fill this journal somehow.

What I didn’t know until I wandered around this afternoon is that there is another, smaller inlet off the sea. It is perpendicular to and off to one side of the main inlet, at the main inlet’s seaward end.

The landward end of the smaller inlet has a beach and swimming area. The seaward half of it has another small marina of the kind where boats, all of them small craft, don’t dock, but instead tie up to buoys anchored in the middle of the inlet.

Franciscan Monastery of Hvar

The Franciscan Monastery stands off to the side of that smaller inlet. The publicly accessible space in it isn’t large. Just past the entrance, a small, austere cloister presents itself. The building houses a small, eclectic museum.

Exhibits include second-century artifacts recovered from a site where a Roman merchant ship sank, paintings mostly from the sixteenth and seventeenth century, including a large seventeenth-century painting of the Last Supper, paintings that look quite modern but were undated so I’m not sure, ancient coins, and modern paper money. (The euro became the official currency here at the beginning of this year, but they still accept the old currency. Many restaurants display prices in both currencies for now.)

Behind the monastery, there is a nice courtyard with cypress trees, a flower bed, and views of the sea in the near distance.

From the outside, it looks like the monastery has a small church. But the doors were locked.

St. Stephen’s Square

I didn’t see any other town squares in Hvar, but St. Stephen’s Square makes up for that lack. It is a reasonably big, beautiful public square. One side of it opens up to the end of the promenade around the marina inlet. Handsome buildings ring the other three sides. The Cathedral of St. Stephan occupies the back end of the square.

Some restaurants border the other sides of the square, including some with tables in the square.

Cathedral of St. Stephan

The Renaissance-era Cathedral of St. Stephan, constructed starting in the 16th century, contains more than its fair share of altars. If I counted correctly, the information sheet available at the entrance lists 11. Each has an old painting behind or beside its altar.

The information sheet described the altars and paintings but didn’t mention a few points of interest described in the tour book I use. According to it, one of the chapels in the cathedral contains the tomb of the co-patron saint of Hvar, St. Prosperus. The dark wood choir stalls behind the main altar were recovered from an earlier Gothic church destroyed in an Ottoman attack in 1571.

Again according to the book, another chapel holds a crucifix that allegedly shed blood on the eve of a major uprising. I don’t know. They don’t have photographs or videos, let alone verifiable photos or videos of the crucifix shedding blood before the uprising, so I’m skeptical.

A flat-sided, tall bell tower, constructed later, stands immediately beside the cathedral.

Historic Hvar Theatre

I can’t verify this, but Hvar’s historic theatre is allegedly Europe’s oldest operating theatre. It was built in 1612 and recently renovated. Small loges on two upper levels form a “U” shape in front of the stage. I don’t know if it was always the case, but floor seating now consists of simple, portable chairs. The theatre is quite attractive.

The €10 price of admission to enter the theatre during non-performance opening hours also bought me the use of a virtual reality headset. When I put it on my head and the ticket seller turned it on for me, the VR headset began displaying an illustrated history of Hvar from I forget which century BCE to I forget which century CE, but not up to current times. A better memory would make this journal more helpful, wouldn’t it?

With the VR headset on, if I tilted my head up, I saw stars on the VR screen. If I looked ahead but turned just my head or my whole body around, I saw an illustrated scene 360° around me. While I watched the illustrated action, a voice spoke to me through the headset giving me a Hvar history lesson.

I know I sound like an old fogey explaining the details of VR technology to you. But I’m an old fogey. So I’m entitled.

Wandering Around Hvar

Hvar’s old town climbs up a hill behind the marina’s inlet. Its parallel “streets” hug the side of the hill at various levels. Sets of stairs connect the levels.

I put “streets” in quotes because they are laneways. Between their narrowness and the stairs, needless to say, they are only for pedestrians.

Densely packed, low-rise stone buildings line the “streets.” Restaurants dot this inner cityscape, many with tables on the laneways and/or inside courtyards, along with in their usually small indoor spaces.

I wandered around this area for a while. It is quite delightful.

Sunset

I returned to my hotel before sunset. I planned it that way. Watching the arc of the sun earlier in the day I thought I would be able to watch the sunset from my hotel suite’s small balcony.

I was right. And the sunset was spectacular. I posted a picture here.

Oh, why yes. I did indeed say hotel suite, not hotel room. I booked a room, not a suite. And I paid for a room, not a suite.

But when I checked in last night, the front desk clerk told me that they inadvertently oversold the type of room I booked so they upgraded me to a junior suite for free.

In addition to the small balcony, my suite has a small bedroom, a small living room, and two full bathrooms. Don’t laugh but I use both bathrooms.

The larger bathroom is ensuite so I use it for most of my bathroom needs. But it has a bathtub. The other, smaller bathroom has a shower stall. I prefer shower stalls so I shower in there. Life can be so complex sometimes, can’t it?

I don’t know why they gave me the suite rather than the other people who booked the same type of room as I did. The hotel has a sister hotel in Hvar on the other side of the marina, but I don’t know if they are part of a larger chain. But even if they are, it’s not one with which I have loyalty status. So that isn’t what got me the upgrade.

Just luck, guess. A suite. Sweet.

That’s pretty much it for Hvar for me. I split tomorrow morning for Split.