Vrboska has a proud heritage of both fishing and boat-building. Traditional curvy wooden boats, that is, with latin sails. The local Udruga Lantina society hold their annual summer regatta on St Peter’s Day, as they reckon he was a fisherman too! This year was expanded to a two-day event, including a special workshop on boat-design…
This December, we came across a new custom in the villages of Hvar. Well, I say new, but only to us, and it turned out only the name was truly unfamiliar. Kolendanje is the local variation of very old folk custom in Croatia, with versions in many other Slavic countries. When we arrived at the…
Stari Grad’s 2400th birthday was a really good party over several days with lots going on and a great atmosphere. Sadly, I failed to take my camera along to the evening event as I didn’t realize it would be so spectacular, but I do have a few taken with my phone. I loved the way…
Stari Grad 2400 Celebrations and Days of the Bay Festival This year marks the 2,400th anniversary of the founding of Faros by Greek settlers. It’s Stari Grad’s official entry into recorded history, although there was actually an Illyrian settlement in place already. If only they’d also written things down, we’d probably need 3,000 candles on…
Sunrise and sunset can be spectacularly beautiful on the island. I love to get up early and enjoy the pretty dawn colours, streaks of delicate yellows, pinks and oranges. I sometimes attempt to capture the subtle lighting with my camera, but there’s only a fleeting window of opportunity to do it in, before the sun…
I’ve wanted for some time to write an article about the Hvar statute of 1331, which appears to be everyone’s favourite supporting evidence for the antiquity of their village, church, tower, field or whatever. Does it actually support all these claims, I wondered? Does a codex of law actually mention all these places? And what…
It’s good to see traditional island products being made, especially when given an innovative twist. And although everyone and their granny has their recipe for marmalade, it’s highly unusual to find a tomato marmalade – and very yummy it is too! We found it pairs excellently well with cheese. The marmalade in question is made…
September is harvest season on Hvar! You can smell it in the air, you can hear the clatter of the processing equipment, and everyone, it seems, is up early and picking grapes. It’s known here as “jematva”, elsewhere in Croatia as “berba”. Once the summer tourist season ends, everyone turns into a winemaker!
It’s been a busy week for the artists, and with the weather heating up again it’s time to head for the beach. It’s a short walk around the coast to Soline, where we can find a shady spot under the trees. Four of us go round in the morning, with another couple joining us for lunch at the nearby cafe. In the evening, we drive up to Pitve for our special dinner at Dvor Duboković, complete with live musicians.
For our third day of painting, we took the road up to the seasonal village of Humac. It’s a very pretty drive, with sweeping views over the Brač channel and much easier to navigate the road after the recent improvements. Humac itself is a farming village, the houses built by the folks of Vrisnik and…
Go Hvar 
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