Do old vines make wine with more character? It certainly seems as if they should! We drove past this wonderful vineyard near Svirče a couple of months back, when the vines were all neatly clipped. With no leaves, the old twisted trunks showed boldly against the rocky terrain. From the road, it almost seemed as…
One sunny afternoon recently, we took ourselves out for a walk after lunch. We hadn’t thought to go exploring new trails, only to take a roundabout route up the hill to the nearby 16th century watchtower for the views. But instead, we found ourselves drawn to the shoreline and the water. Our path brought us…
From our visit up to Sveti Nikola, the highest peak on the island, on the way down we followed the road towards Svirče. Now I have to say that your modern small car is not best suited to the island’s backroads. It simply doesn’t have the clearance of, say, an old Renault 4 which is…
If you look carefully at the head of the Cabal Peninsula as the ferry passes by, you’ll see a lighthouse. And to the left of the lighthouse are tunnels and gun emplacements for the defense of the shipping lanes. The tunnels date from 1969, one year on from the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet-led…
There’s a large stone cross on Glavica, the hill overlooking Stari Grad on the north shore. It makes a very useful marker, as it can be seen from miles around. Conversely, of course, from the top of Glavica, you have great views over the surrounding countryside, and the approach into Stari Grad harbour. The cross…
We were enjoying dinner last night with friends in Svirče when the earth moved and rumbled for the second time this week! A quick check online found a recent 3.2 with epicentre off the Pelješac peninsula. No, really, that can’t be what we felt. This was much closer, surely? I was too quick, and a…
We walked up to Sv Nikola yesterday, that’s the island’s highest peak. I won’t try to pretend that we walked all the way up, in fact we drove most of the way. The road leads up from the end of the Selca tunnel, the turning nicely signposted. The larger, more noticeable sign is for Kolumbić…
January is a quiet time on Hvar, when many locals take the opportunity to visit relatives or simply have a holiday. So it’s not easy to find restaurants open at this time of year. Most have cleared their outside terraces, stacked up the tables and chairs, pulled everything inside and locked their doors. Not even…
Yesterday’s 4.7 earthquake near Vrgorac was heard more than felt in our part of Hvar. The epicentre was about 50 kilometres from here, close to the mainland, just south of Hvar’s eastern tip. I’m sure they would have felt rather more of a jolt in Sučuraj. For us, in the supermarket in Vrboska, it sounded…
During the summer months, Jadrolinija runs a coastal ferry service from Rijeka in the north to Dubrovnik in the south, taking all night and all day about it. Calling in at Split, Stari Grad on Hvar, then Korčula and Mljet, until quite recently the route also included Bari in Italy. Going further back into the…
Go Hvar 
You must be logged in to post a comment.