Croatia Travel Blog

The invisible force field that draws the sleek & chic to Hvar Town, has left the rest of Hvar Island in delightful semi-obscurity. A recent article in the Toronto Star discusses the village of Humac on Hvar Island, reached by a scary mountain road weaving precariously over the cliffs. Fortunately, the article inaccurately describes this road as “the main thoroughfare on this 68-kilometre-long island”. No. The main thoroughfare is a modern, inland road that connects Hvar Town, Stari Grad and Jelsa. I suppose that if you’re living in Humac though, that mountain road counts as a thoroughfare.

I could also quibble with the remark that “this island remains much like it was decades ago.” That would be true for every place but Hvar Town. It remains a stunning architectural showcase but, in the ten years that I’ve been visiting the place, I’ve seen the hills behind Hvar harbour grow new buildings faster than mushrooms after a rainstorm.

But these are minor details in an otherwise good overview of Hvar Island. I wouldn’t expect the world to come rushing to Humac’s door, but I like the mention of Hvar’s excellent hotels such as the Riva Harbour Hotel and the deluxe Adriana with its rooftop patio, swimming pool and spa. I always thought that the Palace Hotel deserved some attention and I’m glad to note that it’s being renovated.

The article also mentions that local “farmers, winemakers and fishermen” have joined together to form the “Best of Hvar Club”, ensuring that 50% of the produce served in the above hotels comes from Hvar Island. Good for them!

The people of Hvar have shown impressive solidarity. I wonder if the “Best of Hvar Club” local produce partnership has been successful because part of the Suncani Hotel chain (which owns most of Hvar hotels) is owned by Hvar Town. Local pressure forced the government to assign a percentage of Suncani Hotels to Hvar when it was privatised. Other Croatian townships are trying to follow the example of Hvar but it’s a highly contentious issue. The problem that Hvar and many other Croatian resorts have is that the local hotel company is a major employer. Among other things, they want these companies to give their kids good jobs and not just low-wage seasonal work.

See the Toronto Star article

See more about Hvar Island

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Calling all Brits. Tune in to BBC this month (date to be announced) for Michael Palin’s trip to Croatia. The peripatetic thespian travels from Rijeka to Dubrovnik before continuing his exploration of eastern Europe. Here’s what the BBC press release said:

In tonight’s first instalment, he becomes acquainted with Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia and Albania. From high in the spectacular Julian Alps of Slovenia, Michael heads to the stunning Dalmatian coast and goes on a tour of the ancient port of Split in Croatia.

A ferry-ride away is the paradise-like island of Hvar, where Michael enjoys walks, wine and fine food with a local restaurateur. Then it’s on to the pilgrimage town of Medjugoree in Bosnia, where Mirjana Dragicevic tells of her visitations from the Virgin Mary which began 25 years ago.

Michael takes in the spectacular rebuilt bridge in Mostar, visits mine-clearance workers in Sarajevo and meets clubbers in Belgrade. He gains a new perspective on the wars that followed the break-up of Yugoslavia and hears of the hope that reconstruction is bringing.

In Dubrovnik, he meets up with lute maestro Edin Karamazov (who recently made an album with Sting) busking in the splendour of this walled city. An opera-singing captain then takes him down the coast to Albania, once the most secretive country in Europe. Read the entire release and see Michael dockside in Rijeka.

Read more about:

Split

Hvar

Dubrovnik

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Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Art Pavilion is traveling to the Island of Lopud, accompanied by the symposium “Patronage of Space”Your black horizon, a remarkable light installation by Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson, was commissioned by Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary and inaugurated to great critical acclaim in June 2005 as an official project at the 51st Venice Biennale of Visual Arts. London-based architect David Adjaye was engaged to work in close collaboration with Eliasson and to conceive an environment in which art and architecture were from the outset considered as one, “an interlocking equation”. It is this relationship, one of engagement and response, and a constant revision of prescribed boundaries between disciplines, that T-B A21 aspires to encourage on a broad and courageous scale. See article.

Gorgeous Lopud Island is little more than a stone’s throw from Dubrovnik. It’s always seemed more conducive to contemplating nature than contemporary art but that’s about to change. This intriguing exhibition will be on display from June 20 to October 31, 2007 and admission is free! All the more reason to make Lopud a day trip from Dubrovnik.

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Korcula Island residents are disappointed but visitors to Dubrovnik will find this new passenger ferry connection a big boon. The Nona Ana fast ferry which has been running visitors (and locals) out to the Elaphiti Islands and Mljet Island for the last few years has added a connection to Korcula this summer. This July and August, the boat will run from Dubrovnik to Sobra and Polace on Mljet Island four days a week and then continue on to Korcula. (See the schedule). With a schedule that leaves Dubrovnik in the morning and returns from Korcula in the afternoon, it’s finally possible to visit Korcula Island as a day trip from Dubrovnik without paying a fortune! As fares are subsidised by the government, they are more than reasonable, certainly a lot cheaper than taking an organised excursion. Korcula Islanders are the only unhappy ones here. They were kinda hoping the schedules would allow day trips to Dubrovnik from Korcula, not the other way around. With this schedule they get a lot of day visitors, sure, but not the money they would get from overnighters. See more about

• Getting to Korcula
• Korcula Island
• Dubrovnik
• Mljet Island
• Elaphiti Islands

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One of my very favorite of Croatia’s many idyllic islands is untamed Cres Island. It’s not hard to reach–there are regular ferries from Valbiska on the mainland–but it just feels so remote. Large patches of this long island (shaped like an exclamation point) are pastures, shrubs and pine forests but there are also some wonderful beaches, like Valun. For whatever reason, Cres has been under the radar and largely apart from the great tourist rush to Croatia.

No more.

The Times has just delivered a glowing write-up of Cres Island under the headlines: “Relaxing Holidays Away from the Beach”; “A Secret Island in Croatia”.

I was pleased to see the attractions of Beli highlighted but there are also other highlights in Cres that are unmentioned, such as “artistic” Osor, “Venetian” Cres Town and the marvellous sandy beach at the aforesaid Valun. Read more about Cres Island.

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