Hvar. Things to do, map and hidden gems

Tvrdalj is the summer residence of the poet Petar Hektorovic in Stari Grad, built from 1520 and conceived as a fortified estate that in case of attack would take in the neighbours as well. The heart of the complex is a rectangular fishpond of sea water in which grey mullet still swim, ringed by a covered portico; beside it are a dovecote, a cistern and a garden of medicinal herbs. Latin, Croatian and Italian inscriptions chosen by Hektorovic himself are carved into the walls, among them one on the transience of all things human. Here the poet wrote Fishing and Fishermen's Conversation of 1556, one of the first works of Croatian literature about ordinary people. The visit takes half an hour.

The Fortica fortress, also known as Spanjola, stands on a hill about a hundred metres above the town of Hvar and was raised in the 16th century on the site of an older fortification. It was built after the Ottoman fleet burned the town in 1571: the new fortress was to take in the population and to control with cannon the entrance to the harbour and the Pakleni archipelago. In 1579 lightning struck it and set the powder magazine alight, which destroyed part of the walls, so it was rebuilt at the end of the century. Today it holds a small collection of amphorae raised from the sea, the dungeons and a terrace from which the whole harbour with its islets is visible. The climb from town takes twenty minutes up steep steps and a path; the ticket is cheap, and the best moment is sunset.

The house and mausoleum of Sime Ljubic stand at the edge of Stari Grad, along the road toward the plain. Ljubic, born in Stari Grad in 1822, was a priest, archaeologist and historian, for many years director of the National Museum in Zagreb and one of the founders of Croatian archaeology: he gathered inscriptions, coins and objects from the island and published the first systematic surveys of the antiquities of Dalmatia. He had the house built in the classicist manner, and beside it a mausoleum was raised in which he was buried after his death in 1896. The building is plain, with a triangular gable and a symmetrical front, untypical of island architecture. It is seen from outside, and a few old cypresses stand within the grounds.

Likorova kuca is the ruin of a 19th-century country house on the slope above Stari Grad, surrounded by terraces that were once vineyard. Estates like this were built when winegrowing on Hvar was at its height, since phylloxera had laid waste the French vineyards and demand for Dalmatian wine rose sharply; families then raised houses outside the settlements, beside their own plantings. When phylloxera reached the island too, the income vanished, people emigrated to America and the houses stayed empty. Today the walls, doorposts and cistern are visible, with maquis growing around them. A field track leads to the spot; there are no signs and no maintained path, so good shoes are needed.

The Pokonji Dol lighthouse stands on a low islet before the entrance to Hvar harbour and marks the approach to the town from the east. It was raised in the 19th century, in the period when the Austrian maritime administration was systematically equipping the eastern Adriatic with lighthouses, since steamer traffic demanded safe navigation by night as well. The tower is low and white, beside it the stone house of the former keeper, and the islet is bare, with no growth but low scrub. Today it works automatically. No scheduled line calls at the islet, but it is seen from the shore and from the taxi boats heading to the Pakleni islands, and the best view of it is from the Pokonji Dol beach opposite.

Mirje is an archaeological site on the eastern edge of Stari Grad Plain, near Dol, where walls of an ancient farming estate can be made out among the stone and the maquis. Roman villae rusticae lined the plain because the land the Greeks had parcelled out stayed in cultivation under Roman rule as well: on such estates oil and wine were pressed and shipped out from the bay of Stari Grad. At Mirje the remains of walls built of regularly laid stone are visible, along with parts of rooms and traces of farm buildings. The site is neither laid out for visitors nor marked with panels, and a field track leads to it; it is best to come in spring, when the growth is low.

Dubovica is a cove on the southern shore of the island, about eight kilometres east of the town of Hvar, along the old road toward Stari Grad. Two headlands close the cove, and at its head lies a pebble beach with larger stones and very clear water that deepens quickly. Right by the beach stands a 19th-century stone house with dry-stone terraces, one of the most photographed buildings on the island. From the road a steep path leads down to the beach in some ten minutes, and the parking by the road is small and full before noon in summer. There are no showers and no shade apart from a few trees, so it is worth bringing water and a parasol.

Palmizana is a cove on the northern side of Sveti Klement, the largest of the Pakleni chain, and the only place in the archipelago with a proper marina, sheltered from both the bora and the southerly. Above the cove lies a botanical garden that the Meneghello family began planting at the start of the 20th century, with palms, agaves, cacti and exotic species brought back from travels; around the garden grew the pavilions and restaurants that work to this day. Over the low hill, a fifteen-minute walk, is a pebble beach facing south. Taxi boats from Hvar run regularly and the crossing takes some twenty minutes. Half a day is enough for a visit, and shoes for the forest paths are useful.

The Pakleni islands are a chain of sixteen islets before the harbour of Hvar, and their name has nothing to do with hell: it comes from paklina, the pine resin that was obtained from the woods here and with which wooden ships were coated for centuries. The islets are low and overgrown with pinewood, with coves sheltered from every wind, so they were a natural anchorage; today they are the main bathing area of the town of Hvar. The largest is Sveti Klement with the Palmizana cove and its marina, and the nearest to town are Jerolim and Galesnik. Taxi boats run to them from Hvar harbour every half hour in season, the crossing taking ten to twenty minutes. Taverns work on the larger islets; everything else is pinewood and rocky shore.

Zarace are two neighbouring coves on the southern side of the island, Malo and Velo Zarace, divided by a rocky ridge pierced by a low natural passage through which one can swim from one to the other. The beaches are pebbly and narrow, ringed by white rock and pines, and the sea, exposed to the open water, is colder and clearer than in sheltered bays. The coves are reached by turning off the main road through the village of the same name, then by a steep track whose last two hundred metres become steps. There is no catering apart from a small tavern in season, so bring your own water. In a strong southerly the sea throws in waves and swimming is then unpleasant.

Jerolim is the first islet of the Pakleni chain, less than a kilometre from Hvar harbour, and it is the quickest bathing place reachable from town. It took its name from a former chapel of St Jerome that no longer exists. The shore is rocky with a few small pebble coves and concrete platforms, and the sea is deep and very clear as there is neither river mouth nor sand. Since the 1960s the islet has been known as a naturist bathing place, and today nude and clothed bathing take place on separate stretches of the shore. The interior is dense pine wood with narrow paths. Taxi boats from Hvar run every half hour in season, the crossing taking some ten minutes; one bar works on the island.

Galesnik is the smallest and nearest islet before Hvar harbour, only a few hundred metres from the waterfront, so a boat reaches it in five minutes. On the top of the islet stand the remains of a small fort the Venetians raised in the 16th century to close the harbour entrance with crossfire together with the town fortress of Fortica; the fort was later abandoned and only its stone ground floor remains. The shore is rocky, with concrete sunbathing platforms and a steep entry into deep water. The islet is arranged as a day beach club with a bar and loungers, open in season. It is worth coming in the afternoon, when the whole town harbour is seen from it against the light.

The market in the town of Hvar works in the shade along the northern edge of the main square, in the passage that leads toward the upper town, and it is smaller than mainland markets because the island produces on terraces, in small quantities. What is sold is what grows on Hvar: tomatoes, courgettes, figs and grapes in late summer, sage and rosemary honey, dried lavender in little bags, olive oil and home-made liqueurs. Among the stalls stand growers from the hill villages who come in the morning with what they picked that day. It opens early and closes around noon, and the best choice is before nine. Prices are somewhat higher than on the mainland because part of the goods arrives by ferry.

The market in Stari Grad is set up every morning on a small square a few steps from the waterfront, and the make-up of the offer shows that Stari Grad Plain, the only larger farmed area on the island, lies behind the town. For that reason the choice of vegetables is better than elsewhere on Hvar: tomatoes, peppers, chard, onions and potatoes from the plain, along with figs, almonds and grapes in season. Home-pressed oil, wine in plastic bottles and dried figs on strings are sold too. It works from early morning to noon, and in the low season only at weekends, when three or four stalls open. A grocery shop nearby covers whatever the market does not.