One of the most impressive buildings on the Stari Grad waterfront has recently been renovated in fine style and will be opening for the season as the classy boutique Hotel Apolon. The restaurant opened a couple of weeks ago, and we went along to see how it all looks.
Hotel Apolon at night
This was originally the villa of Šime Ljubić, built for him in 1872 in classical style, complete with presiding statues of Apollo and the Muses on the roof. They’re appropriate because Ljubić was an eminent archeologist and historian, one of the first to research the fascinating past of this ancient town, and indeed, wider Dalmatia. He’s the founder of the Croatian Archaeological Society, the original director of the National Museum in Zagreb, researcher and translator of important documents from the archives in Vienna and Venice, including the Hvar Statute of 1331. His favourite place was always Stari Grad, which he thought was the most beautiful town of any he’d seen!
Historical house
And so it is beautiful, especially with the new waterfront. That evening, I counted 39 yachts tied up, which isn’t at all bad for early May! The annual regatta from Samobor was in, celebrating the end of their race down the coast with some wine and traditional tamburitsa music. We stopped to listen for a while, as we enjoy the songs, and loved the idea of bringing a double bass along on a sailing trip!
Tamburitsa music on board
At the Apolon, the menu looks exciting. It’s still early evening, but there’s a table of folks from the nearby yachts already eating. The grand restaurant opening won’t be for a couple of weeks yet, but this is the soft opening, to get the process ironed out.
Apolon menu
The hotel’s general manager Rico and his staff are friendly and very proud of their new hotel & restaurant and especially the wine bar. The designers have translated the old konoba/store room into a stylish bar with the old rock still in place, but now it’s the bottle rack. I want one!
Wine rack in the rock
The decor in the dining room is quite minimalist, at least for now. It does show off the old architectural features that have been retained in the new design. Lovely!
Restaurant retains character features
And the food is beautifully prepared from fresh locally sourced ingredients. They have their own garden at the back, and what they don’t grow themselves, they get from an organic supplier in Dol. they also make their own wonderful honey.
Your menu, sir!
Our wine for tonight comes from PZ Svirče, their Mediterano is a lighter red that pairs well with seafood.
Carpaccio of the sea
We started with the carpaccio from the sea, and smoked tuna served with a fragrant lavender honey.
Squid, garden salad and red wine!
Next up was a lovely garden salad, and we split a dish of Squid with potatoes and Hvar capers that came in a very tasty sauce!
Prešurate with dips
We hadn’t intended to order a pudding, but who could refuse the house specialty? Prešurate are like small doughnut balls with pine nuts and they came with vanilla creme, honey with orange, and figs stuffed with almonds and soaked in grappa! Yummy!
Top of the house guest room
And after our wonderful dinner, a tour of the hotel itself. The renovations have been very sensitively done, with a care to preserving the original character, combined with thoroughly modern features such as a glass lift in the centre of the stairway. The bedrooms are really lovely, so spacious and thoughtfully decorated. Instead of numbers, each room has been given the name of a muse, as a reminder of those statues on the roof.
Gorgeous cast-iron tub
And oh look! A cast-iron bath, how wonderful! Right, that’s me moving in! So if you, too, like a bit of luxury and style, this looks to be a great place to stay in Stari Grad. Can’t beat the views or the accommodation.
Nautical themed decor
Boutique hotels like this are not at all common on the island, aside from Hvar town. Accommodation elsewhere is mostly in private rooms or apartments, with a few remnants of the old communist concrete hotels in a couple of places. This addition of a small hotel with character is very good to see! Especially as the restaurant promises to be a good one, with a terrace overlooking the riva!
Website: www.apolon.hr
Go Hvar 
Apolon looks fantastic, as well as its restaurant and wine bar. I haven’t heard about Presurate before (is it a typical cake from the island? I’ve eaten fritule that look kind of the same, but don’t have pine nuts in them). And 39 yachts tied up sounds more like a July than May numbers.
Hi Frank, the Apolon is really lovely, and in such a gorgeous location. Not sure about the distinction between prešurate and fritule, they are indeed very similar. We’re going by what Rico told us, so these may be a local version – will have to investigate further! The new riva in Stari Grad has certainly attracted more yachts than usual for this time of year. Some of that was due to the Samobor regatta, but there was a mix of other nationalities too. Perhaps the colder weather conditions pushed more sailors southwards?
Here’s Rico’s response about prešurate vs fritule: there is no real difference, either can be stuffed with raisins, pinenuts, dried fruit or whatever. Older islanders say that fritule are a little larger, and the name originates from Italy and is used in Istria and Primorje. So there you are!