Hvar in Sun and Rain

  

It's always interesting when we come into a new city or town. There is disorientation, no matter if anyone meets you or not.
Case in point, we arrived the other night in Hvar, Croatia, a very tourist oriented city on the island of Hvar.
Getting off the ferry we notice unusually long lines for the ferry out of Hvar. The port itself was filled with people in the restaurants and bars and just generally, there was a lot going on. I found out later that some important soccer match was on TV and all the locals were cheering on Hvar against their biggest rivals.

            
But our host met us near the port, he had been in touch with us and said he would be there. Our previous host said that he had gotten our emails and really should have responded but just didn't get around to it. Anyway....entering a new town and finding out where things are is always a challenge....nothing serious just a hurdle.

         

The weather indicated rain for the day but the morning was hot, humid and windy, so we set out down to the waters edge and came across this monastery which we realized we could see from our windows.

                  

In an interesting turn, the Franciscans had made the garden in the cloister into a small theatre for plays or religious observance. I still spent time in the cloisters, always my favorite part of any monastery.

         

Like churches everywhere in Europe, the former faithful are memorialized with stone slabs as their bodies are placed beneath.

               

The sign out front indicated that I could not enter if I was wearing a swimsuit....I was legal. Nor could you bring a dog...legal still. I couldn't bring in my razor scooter....still legal. (There must have been hoards of marauding scooter gangs in this country in decades past. Everywhere we go we are told to not wear bathing suits in the church and not to bring in our scooters.) The other part of the sign said no photos.

As soon as I walked in the cleaning lady was walking around with an IPhone shooting pictures and some guy was standing in front of the altar with a camera filming a video...though to be fair....neither were in swim suits nor were they on scooters.

I discreetly took some photos as you can see. If my passport is revoked and I am not allowed to leave this island, I can think of a lot worse punishments.

                    
The sundial on the outer wall was on time....it was about 10 (X) am when I took this, though it does beg the question....how do you tell time on a cloudy day?



The Franciscan Monastery of the Church of St. Mary of Grace was built in the 1400's. Today it is still a working church for folks in the neighborhood.

                  

Our apartment host suggested that we walk the walkway around the sea. One can see some small islands across the bay but this was an exceptionally windy day. The sheltered coves were relatively calm, the open Sea was full of strong winds and waves.

        

So we walked.

        

Along the road were many homes which were facing the Sea and had tourist apartments. The tourist season is winding down and while other towns along the coast are emptying, Hvar is still going, though we saw a number of signs for "Free Rooms"....meaning "vacancy."

               
But, more than any other Island we have been on, this island town has a promanade path all along the shore. As we continued the walk, we came to a section that was not occupied by housing, something that was unusual. Trees sheltered this less used portion of the seaside road.


A hill on the left and the sea on the right which made for wonderful views.

                

We rounded a curve in the road and found this swimming cove. Obviously it wasn't too isolated and many knew of it and it had two bars there also.


We sat in the shade and enjoyed the morning as the heat and the wind both picked up. 
Later we returned on the same road and went a couple miles further along the sea shore.
The skies darkened and eventually we were caught in the rain.

            

For all of its isolation, Hvar has a lot going on, rain or shine.

      

Peace,   Bob



















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