Hvar, Croatia: Sunshine and Klapa Music
Having endured a month of rain in Italy, we find ourselves eager to set sail for the
promise of another country and another climate. We take our place in the ferry line at the port of Ancona, Italy, four hours before the scheduled evening departure of our ship to Split, Croatia.
Anacona-Split Ferry
Things start looking up as soon as we board. Italian ferries, as we were to discover, are the next best thing to The Orient Express. Dark mahogany trim, chandeliers, plush blue carpets, red cushions, spacious and comfortable settings at the bar and restaurant. Even our stateroom – which could sleep four – was far from the expected claustrophobic closet, suggesting that we could look forward to a good sleep on the voyage ahead. We treat ourselves to a bottle of chilled white wine that night while watching the European final between Chelsea and Manchester United and exchanging travel stories with an Australian couple.
Hvar: Seawalls and Sunlit Squares
We arrive in Split, Croatia the next morning and two hours later, the village of Stari Grad, on the island of Hvar. After crossing the island, we reach our home for the next five days – the town of Hvar. Hvar was the town we had been dreaming of the whole time we had been touring Europe that spring. Small, stately historic homes huddle around a harbor, warrens of squeaky clean medieval streets open to large
sunlit squares by the sea. Seawalls lined with palms have you strolling past a line of pleasure craft, yachts, wooden boats, fishing boats and well-appointed cafes and shops that look out upon emerald waters glib with white sails just beyond the shore.
Hvar: ‘Routine’ Pleasures
Our perfect accommodation (for $50.00 a night) with private kitchenette and bath, had two balconies from which to take in the harbour’s activities below and the Venetian fortress and dry Hellenic-like hills above. The climate is welcoming – 
warm, sunny, dry – and the days spent in Hvar become a ‘routine’ pleasure. They begin with a jog or cycle on the seawall that circles the town, a swim in the Caribbean-like Adriatic and passegio through the market in the afternoons, and dinners on our balcony with the town below softening in the light of the setting sun.
Klapa Music
Our stay in this perfectly posed European village by the sea is capped by a ‘klapa’ music concert in the cloisters of the town’s seaside monastery, featuring the finest male and female acappella groups of Croatia. This was clearly a tradition supported and warmly received by locals and tourists alike!
Island of Hvar: Light Dancing off the Olive Trees
We don’t leave Hvar until we have the chance to see all of it – the island, that is. Within two miles, we realize how urbane Hvar is in comparison to its rural 
counterparts – vast open fields squared by walls of crumbling stone fences. The terraced fields, seemingly devoid of life, are punctuated every so often by a cluster of red-roofed homes and churches only to succumb again to the aridity and rockiness of the land. All towns visited are uniformly charming and all pressed against the sea, with boats docked along the main street, steps away from a throng of cafes, lavender stalls and tourists.
The island’s unapologetic simplicity, unhurriedness and luminosity had me turning to my partner to say, “This is what I thought driving through the Mediterranean would be like – light dancing off the olive tress….”.
