With 40 days to go until the end of voting for European Best Destination 2017 on the European Best Destinations, day three of our look at why your vote should go to Croatian nominee, Stari Grad - through the lens of local photographer Vedran Rafael Janic.
How many other nominees can boast their very own UNESCO World Heritage Site?
The Stari Grad Plain, the largest cultivated field in the Adriatic, is one of Croatia's eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites, having been awarded the status back in 2008. Little has changed in the agricultural colony founded by the Ancient Greeks, shortly after they sailed into the deep Stari Grad bay in 384 BC, and founded their first settlement (modern-day Stari Grad), which they called Faros.
Olives and grapes are still the staples of the plain so many years later, both of which play a part in another part of Hvar's UNESCO heritage, the Mediterranean Diet, which was inscribed as intangible heritage back in 2013. It is a lesser known fact that Hvar has the most UNESCO heritage of any island in the world, and I have a plan one day to see it all in action in one evening.
Picture the scene.
Dinner in the middle of the Stari Grad Plain on Maundy Thursday just before Easter, watching the UNESCO Za Krizen procession in the distance, before dinner is served - a celebration of the UNESCO Mediterranean diet, served on UNESCO agave lace tablecloths from the Benedictine nuns in Hvar Town, and accompanied by the sound of UNESCO klapa music from southern Dalmatia.
Unbeatable, and worthy of a top European destination.
To learn more about the Stari Grad Plain, watch the official UNESCO video below.
