May 9, 2019 - Via Ferrata is open. From wine tasting in a cave to adrenaline views few get to see, discover Hvar beyond the beach.

Are you brave enough?

Hvar beyond the beach and nightlife is an incredible place. an island of culture, with the most UNESCO heritage of any island in the world. And when it comes to adventure...

Hvar is a sailing, kayaking, cycling and hiking paradise, but if you are into rock climbing, there can be few destinations which offer better views than Sveta Nedelja, especially when you get to combine it with a superb and unique wine tasting in a cave after you have finished.  

Star addition of 2019 is Via Ferrata, which we introduced a few months ago. 

Via Ferrata is an Italian meaning 'iron path', a protected challenging trail route built with a steel cable rail fixed to the rock, metal steps, ladders, suspension bridges and zip wires. The via ferrata was used a lot by troops in the First World War, allowing them to make their way through the mountains by using a harness clipped onto the wire. This is also a great way for non-expert climbers to reach high altitudes safely, using minimum equipment.

Not for the fainthearted, but the views are certainly worth it.  

 Sveta Nedljelja is famous for its wine, especially the powerful Plavac Mali reds, a grape variety which is related to Zinfandel. The village's steep vineyards and endless southside sun are some of the reasons for the success of this grape variety. And if you want to see what kind of views Hvar grapes enjoy growing up, you really can't beat views like this. 

The village of Sveta Nedjelja below. 

And there really is no age limit on those keen to tackle the Villa Ferrata. Here is the 83-year-old Slovakian father of the man behind the Via Ferrata project. 

The tour with And Adventure takes a leisurely walk back to base, for there is plenty more to explore. There is an incredible church and monastery high above the village which has been built inside a cave.

It was built in the 15th century and the monks lived in total isolation here until 1787. An incredible spot, and a perfect place to catch your breath and admire this incredible island.

But you are not finished yet. The same Slovakian climbing enthusiast behind Via Ferrata is also making his own Plavac Mali wine, and very good it is too. So good, in fact, that it beat more established names on the island in a blind tasting recently. And in terms of setting, the wine cellar is pretty hard to beat. Enjoy nibbles and wine tasting inside a waterfront cave, before jumping in for a swim.  

How about that for an adrenaline day. And some people just stay on the beach...

To learn more about And Adventure climbing tours, visit their official website. 

Visit the official Cliffbase website and follow Via Ferrata through the summer via Facebook.

To learn more about this magical island, check out the Total Croatia Hvar in a Page. 

Valamar Riviera has announced that it has paid 22.8 million kuna for the recapitalisation of the Helios Faros hotel company in Stari Grad on the island of Hvar. The recapitalisation process will also include PBZ Croatia Osiguranje pension fund, creating conditions for Helios Faros to leave the bankruptcy proceedings, reports Večernji List on May 8, 2019.

“In accordance with the decision to increase the share capital, as part of the approved bankruptcy investment and recapitalisation plan, Valamar Riviera has paid 22.8 million kuna to Helios Faros in order to register 2,280,000 shares. At the same time, PBZ Croatia Osiguranje will register 6,840,000 shares for 68.4 million kuna,” the statement reads.

This will increase Helios Faros’ share capital from 5.36 million kuna to 96.56 million kuna. Following the increase in the share capital, Valamar will own 23.61 per cent of Helios Faros’ shares and PBZ Croatia Osiguranje 70.83 per cent.

“The increase in the share capital will create the prerequisites for Helios Faros to leave the bankruptcy proceedings. Through the partnership between Valamar and PBZ CO, a new phase of tourism development in Stari Grad on Hvar will commence,” Valamar said.

Helios Faros is the most important hotel company in Stari Grad. It has been in the bankruptcy proceedings since 2016. In mid-May 2017, Valamar Riviera and PBZ Croatia Osiguranje submitted a joint bid for the investment and recapitalisation of the company.

In July 2017, the Helios Faros creditors’ assembly accepted the joint offer by Valamar Riviera and PBZ Croatia Osiguranje, and it also adopted a decision on the development of a detailed bankruptcy plan that would allow the company to leave the bankruptcy proceedings and continue its operations.

In early November 2018, the creditors’ assembly accepted the bankruptcy plan based on the joint offer by Valamar and PBZ Croatia Osiguranje. The Commercial Court in Split also issued a first-instance ruling confirming the bankruptcy plan for investing and recapitalising of Helios Faros.

Translated from Večernji List.

More Hvar news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

May 6, 2019 - Hvar has been voted as the second-best honeymoon destination in Europe. And who are we to disagree?

Another nice recognition for Hvar just days after it reopened the oldest public theatre in Europe - it is a destination for newly-weds!

Hvar has just been voted the second-best honeymoon destination in Europe by European Best Destinations. Here is what they had to say about Croatia's premier island:

You won’t believe your eyes : Hvar is a paradise on earth, one of the most beautiful destinations in Europe for a honeymoon. Welcome to one of the most beautiful islands in Croatia. Come and discover Hvar historical heritage, enjoy its many beaches, the hotels’ superb pools, the sun, the blue waters and lifestyle where celebrities like George Clooney or Beyonce come and rest.
 
Book the best suite in your dream hotel : the Blue Bay Residence or the Amfora Hvar Grand Beach Resort are at the best price as well as many activities on the island of Hvar.

But why stop at just the honeymoon? Why not have the whole wedding party on this magical island and allow your guests to experience Croatia at its very finest?

The wedding industry on Hvar is booming, as more foreign tourists fall in love with the island and decide to tie the know there. TCN caught up with the Suncani Hvar Hotels wedding coordinator some time ago to find out more - a very interesting interview for those of you looking to get hitched in paradise. 

Looking for an idea of how a Hvar honeymoon might look? Check out the video below.

To find out who else made the top 5 in Europe, visit the European Best Destinations website. 

May 6, 2019 - An Erasmus project exploring the UNESCO heritage of four destinations in Croatia, Cyprus, Italy and Spain is proving an excellent education about the considerable UNESCO heritage of Hvar.  

One of the many attractions that the island of Hvar possesses is its considerable UNESCO heritage. So much so, in fact, that it has more UNESCO heritage than any other island in the world. I used to think that the number of UNESCO heritages was 5, but I learned it was actually 6 in a recent interview with Hvar Tourist Board director, Petar Razovic, I learned that the number is actually six. 

The six are: UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Stari Grad Plain. Intangible UNESCO heritage: the Za Krizen procession, agave lace from the Benedictine Nuns, Mediterranean Diet, klapa singing, and the one I had always omitted, the art of dry stone walling. 

I had been intending to write an article about all six, but it seems I was beaten to it. Over the weekend, a teacher from Hvar's elementary school contacted me to tell me out a great Erasmus project called UNESCO passport. Hvar's elementary school explains it like this:

The “UNESCO Passport“ is a project in which we are going to explore our cultural heritage which is under UNESCO’s protection on our island. We believe that heritage shapes our identity and our everyday life so we think that it is important to include it in our educational process. Our partners in this project are schools from Italy, Spain and Cyprus. There will be four teachers and students’ visits during the two years of the project. The first visit will be held in Hvar during April 2019. The following visit is expected to be held in Italy in 2019. The short-term visits in Spain and Cyprus will be held in the year 2020. Each visit will last between 3 and 5 days.

It seems that the April visit to Hvar was a great success. Once again, I hand the words over to the school and its trip report:

The arrival of our project partners from Italy, Spain and Cyprus in Hvar (9th April)

Our partners came to the town of Hvar by the catamarans during the afternoon on 9th April. At 7.30 pm there was a small opening ceremony to welcome our guests in the Arsenal Gallery.

The local male klapa “Galešnik“ and the local folklore group “Šaltin“ performed at this welcoming ceremony. Mrs Nada Jeličić, the headmistress of Hvar Elementary School welcomed the guests and then Helga Buratović (the coordinator of the project) said a few words about the aims and main activities of this wonderful Erasmus+ project.

After that, our students briefly introduced themselves in front of the audience. At the end of the ceremony, our eighth-grade student Tina Radaić sang the song “Hallelujah“. Our students then went to their homes and our project team went to dinner together with the visiting teachers.

Day 1 of the mobility in Hvar (10th April) 

Due to the rainy weather, we started our activities in the Elementary School of Hvar.

At the very beginning, our school female klapa (led by their mentor Miranda Krivić – the music teacher) performed the song “Diridonda“. Following that, our guests showed us the power-point presentations about their towns and schools.

After a short coffee break, there was a lace-making workshop (a kind of string art) whose result was some interesting works of art. The activities continued after lunch.

First, our visitors went on a guided tour of the Hvar town centre. Their guide was Zrinka Zokić, one of our teachers but also a renowned tourist guide. Among other landmarks, they visited the Benedictine monastery and saw the famous Hvar agave lace.

After that, we all again met at school where our Hvar students held their Prezi presentations showing our UNESCO protected tangible and intangible heritage. At the end of these presentations, there was a quiz to see how much our partners remembered.

The winners of the quiz were Cypriot students who showed amazing concentration and knowledge. During the short break, our visitors tried vanilla ice-cream with olive oil having orange flavour (the product of Radojković oil mill) and our Dalmatian dessert “rožata“.

At the end of the day, our IT teacher Niko Karković prepared an online evaluation in our IT classroom. Later, all the students went to a pizzeria together, and the teachers went to a local “konoba“ (Luviji) for the wine tasting event.

They were accompanied by our project team members Ela Matković, Natalija Šćepanović and Helga Buratović.

Day 2 of the mobility in Hvar (11th April)

The second day was full of activities. We started the day with workshops.

The first one was held by our biology teacher Ružica Ćurin who taught the students about different herbs that can be used for various medicinal and cosmetic purposes.

The students took part in a quiz trying to guess the species of plant by its smell. They were excellent at this task since they were really interested in her lecture.

After that, our English teacher Magda Tamim organised the workshop of decorating traditional cakes called “paprenjaci“. She also explained to them how to make these cakes. The final products were lovely.

After a short break, we all met at the hotel “Riva“ which kindly “loaned“ us its kitchen where the local chef Mr Pero Hure cooked a tasty “gregada“ for us. He explained how to prepare it and then we all tasted it.

After lunch, we went to a nearby island Palmižana where our visitors tried to catch fish themselves. The best fisherman was Karlo Domančić who managed to catch fish.

During the hours spent on Palmižana, the rainy weather was kind to so we even had some sunny hours during this afternoon. When we came back to Hvar we took part in another workshop trying to make creams from beeswax, olive oil, lavender and immortelle.

Following that, we went to our school where our IT teacher Niko Karković taught us how to use Canva, a digital tool used for graphic design. Our students have started to create our digital Mediterranean diet cookery book using this tool.

The book will be one of the final products of our project. Finally, although we were all tired, the Cypriot student Petr gave us a fantastic presentation about their Lefkara lace (also protected by UNESCO). He really deserved the big applause and our respect.

Day 3 of the mobility in Hvar (12th April)

We started the activities by going to the Hvar's fortress where the visitors could enjoy the beautiful view of the town and the sea. We found out important information about the history of this significant cultural landmark and then we went to Velo Grablje by bus.

In Velo Grablje, a nearby village, we were welcomed by Mr Ivica Tomičić who sang and played the accordion for us. He told us the story about the beginnings of this village and about the life of the village in the past.

It is the story about growing vines and lavender, but also about building the amazing drywalls that surround this village. The art of building drywalls was added to UNESCO's list of intangible heritage in November 2018. Mr Ivica kindly shared small lavender gifts to our guests.

In the end, one of our students Roko and Mr Ivica performed a small part from a play “Ribanje i ribarsko prigovaranje“ written by the Renaissance poet Petar Hektorović.

We continued our way to Stari Grad where we were welcomed by Mr Vinko Tarbušković (the professor of history) who showed us the most important locations and ruins of the Stari Grad's Plain.

He told us about the beginnings of Stari Grad (ancient Pharos) and about the history of this plain and its Greek division.

After lunch, we visited Tvrdalj (home of the poet Petar Hektorović). The students of Elementary School Petar Hektorović in Stari Grad gave us another performance of “Ribanje“.

Our students (members of the photography group led by Miss Katija Barbić, the TE teacher) shared small notebooks with photos of famous Tvrdalj inscriptions to the visiting students and their task was to find these inscriptions and take photos of them by themselves.

The teachers had a working coffee break where they brought some important conclusions for the continuation of the project.

At five o'clock we went to Vrbanj, one of the villages that take part in the Procession Following the Cross. We took part in the local procession and later the local singers gave us the performance of The Lamentation of Christ, which is an important part of the UNESCO protected procession Following the Cross.

The local priest and the local people prepared pancakes and refreshments for our visitors. We are very grateful to all of them.

At 7 pm we came back to Hvar and our school. We prepared a small farewell party in one of the classrooms.

The students evaluated the daily activities and then Helga Buratović summarised what the students learned during the few days of the stay in Hvar and gave a short farewell speech for our visitors.

We also shared the mobility attendance certificates and some small farewell presents which were partly prepared by our school cooperative “Faria“, led by Marjana Tudor (geography teacher) and Ivančica Katušić-Domančić (Art teacher). 

The feeling that we all shared, in the end, was really worth all the effort. Some of the visiting students expressed their gratitude for getting the chance to take part in this Erasmus+ project. And we really became aware of the immense benefits that students gain from these school exchange projects.

To learn more about the island of Hvar, check out the Total Croatia Hvar in a Page guide.

May 6, 2019 - Putting Croatian adventure tourism on the map, with the biggest welcome in the world. Day 45 of this incredible 2011 adrenaline trip covering 2,500 km along the Croatian coast. 

The World's Biggest Welcome, an ambitious adventure tourism project in 2011 in Croatia enters Day 45 of this 2019 appreciation of one of the finest tourism promotion projects ever in Croatia.  

The plan? To showcase the diversity and fabulous offer of adventure tourism in Croatia by following a GPS route the length of the Croatian coast in the shape of the word 'Welcome' - thereby creating the biggest welcome in the world from a hospitable tourism country. 

Day 45 moved from Bol on the island of Brač to the island of Hvar by kayak to continue forming the 'M' in 'Welcome'. The 'Welcome team' also had an epic welcome to Hvar town.

Day 45 began at one of Croatia's most famous beaches - Zlatni Rat in Bol. 

The crew then started their journey to Hvar. 

And was even followed by a helicopter. 

A Red Bull helicopter. 

The team forming in Bol. 

From Brač to Hvar - arriving in Vroboska.

Vrboska's most common nickname is 'Little Venice' as it has just one canal. 

The canal and Vrboska's stone bridge. 

Seems as if the group could barely fit!

The charming town in all of its glory. 

The team then traveled from Milna to Hvar town. 

Where they were greeted by Hvar mayor Pjerino Bebic.

And flares.

The mayor even helped the team pull their kayaks out of the sea!

And then it was time to party. 

The Cathedral of St. Stephen.

The team traveled to Malo Grablje in the evening.

And ended the night at tavern Stori Komin in Malo Grablje.

A key part of the project was promoting tourism, and the official website has details of the key places visited during the day. 

Hvar.

You can see the entire project on the Welcome website, as well as much more of Luka Tambaca's stunning photography on the Welcome Facebook page. 

Tune in tomorrow for Day 46, as Lacko moves from Makarska to Lovište.

To follow the whole project from the start, follow the dedicated TCN page. 

All photos in the story by Luka  Tambača.

May 5, 2019 - Meet Hvarcienda, a new sustainable organic farm with cool tunes and incredible views located close to the peak of the island of Hvar. Perfection!

What if you could combine the very best of everything in one place in Croatia?

Somewhere like the peak of the sunniest island in Europe, whose natural beauty and temperate climate earned it the nickname of the 'Austrian Madeira' over a century ago, as well as it becoming the birthplace of organised tourism in Europe based on its recuperative climate. 

What if there was a place at the peak of this island which offered high-quality organic food, with produce from its own fields, serving some of the finest examples of the Hvar Mediterranean Diet, which was inscribed as UNESCO intangible heritage back in 2013. 

A place where there are no neighbours, apart from perhaps yourselves, if you wanted to stay in the luxury villa a few minutes walk from the main restaurant. Also in total seclusion, the villa is close enough to the restaurant to dine and chill, but sufficiently distant to protect privacy. Check out the villa here, available on AirBnB.

A place where the emphasis is on nature, great food and company, and chilling out in a divine spot with nobody else around. 

Meet Hvarcienda, the latest fantastic addition to the Hvar hospitality scene, and a very unique one at that. In their own words:

Located at the highest peak of the island (627m)Located at the highest peak of the island (627m), Hvarcienda is an organic farm and restaurant offering farm to table food. we are here to provide our community with a place they can relax and enjoy "safe" food. we look forward to share our lifestyle and passion with all of you here in Hvarcienda.   Able to accommodate small or large groups with proper reservation notice, guests will enjoy dining indoors or outdoors. Whether covered in the shade for lunch or under the starry sky for dinner, Hvarcienda is one of the islands most authentic and beautiful places to enjoy a glass of wine, dine or simply explore and relax.

We are a community of friends creating an eco-friendly rural escape located on top of the island. Our restaurant & farm area will become a sustainable tourism platform offering local organic food and wine along with multi-functioning outside areas including tourist accommodation in our guest house and a small camping ground in future.

Since we grow almost all our food that we bring to the table, Our concept is to be as sustainable as possible when it comes to the food we are serving.

DIRECTIONS: Resting just beneath the famous chapel, Sveta Nikola. Hvarcienda is located 20min by car or shuttle from Hvar town or Stari Grad.  Our road is rocky and windy at certain areas so please take it slow and enjoy all the scenic views and history on your way up!    



VILLA: Need accommodation? Stay with us in our beautiful villa! The property is far enough from the restaurant for privacy but close enough to reach by foot if need be.  Sleeps six guest comfortably with a full kitchen, outside patio and pool for cooling off in the heat.

Basically we will prepare local specialties like peka, lamb on the spit... vegetables from our garden and from next year we will have our own wine. This place is perfect for groups, corporative events, weddings etc... We also plan on doing yoga retreats and stuff like that in future. The property is huge with amazing views and lots of walking trails around. 

The hardest thing is to get up there but we will organize transportation as well if necessary. 

We are open from next week.

There will also be plenty of chilled tunes to help guests relax and get into the mood, and a special guest next weeks sees the return to Hvar of Hula Hula legend Wolf, who will be DJ-ing for a few days at Hvarcienda in its opening phases. 

Wolf, the Austrian legend who took Hula Hula from a crappy little bar with plastic chairs and drinks in cool boxes to one of the top beach bars in the world. is now living in the mountains in Austria, where he now runs a truly fabulous hospitality business in the mountains above Innsbruck called Hecherhaus (see photo below).

From one hilltop paradise to another. We will be reporting back from Hvarcienda in greater detail shortly. You can follow and contact Hvarcienda on their Facebook page, which will be active shortly.

Opening hours 9 am to 12 pm

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This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

To learn more about this magical island, check out the Total Croatia Hvar in a Page guide. For the latest news from Hvar, follow the dedicated TCN page.

May 5, 2019 - Hvar secondary school took part in the global #FridaysForFuture global climate change protest this week and received support from a young lady in Sweden.

It is less than 9 months since Swedish ninth-grade student, Greta Thunberg, decided to protest global inertia to the threat of climate change by swapping school attendance for protesting outside the Swedish Parliament. What happened next has been quite phenomenal, and the young Swedish student has not only redefined the debate on climate change, but also initiated a global movement by her simple actions and her stark message. 

Schoolchildren around the globe have followed Thunberg's lead, and the FridaysForFuture initiative - 

About #FridaysForFuture

#FridaysForFuture is a movement that began in August 2018, after 15 years old Greta Thunberg sat in front of the Swedish parliament every schoolday for three weeks, to protest against the lack of action on the climate crisis. She posted what she was doing on Instagram and Twitter and it soon went viral. 

On the 8th of September, Greta decided to continue striking every Friday until the Swedish policies provided a safe pathway well under 2-degree C, i.e. in line with the Paris agreement. 

The hashtags #FridaysForFuture and #Climatestrike spread and many students and adults began to protest outside of their parliaments and local city halls all over the world. This has also inspired the Belgium Thursday school strikes.

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Schoolchildren from Hvar secondary school took part in the global protest on Friday, a protest organised by school graduate Romano Malecic and supported by local NGO PlatFORma. One can only imagine their excitement and how much they felt encouraged when Greta Thunberg retweeted Malecic's tweet about the Hvar protest. 

This incredible youth grassroots movement is gathering pace, and Hvar is very much a part of it. 

You can see more photos of the Hvar protest on Dalmacija Danas.

Spring is a delightful gourmet celebration in Dalmatia, and also the season for wild asparagus. Stari Grad on Hvar will be hosting its third Sparogijada on May 6, 2019. 

Two of my most surprising discoveries moving from the UK to Dalmatia were without doubt octopus and asparagus. 

Show a Brit an octopus and then suggest he eat it for his lunch and the majority will run a mile. I must admit I was not keen on the idea, but a friend gently encouraged me to try an octopus salad starter one lunchtime. I agreed with some reservations and tucked in with trepidation. It was absolutely delicious, served cold with salad, tomato, onions, garlic, capers, lemon juice and - of course - more than a splash of olive oil. It is now my favourite starter and one I enthusiastically recommend to visiting friends. Their reluctance, then conversion, then enthusiastic embracing of the dish is an experience which mirrors my own, every time. 

So too with asparagus, which was right up there with broccoli and Brussels sprouts before I moved to Croatia. But you have not tasted real asparagus until you come to Croatia. It grows wild and locals head off into the fields to gather it in season, in the same way Russians and their mushroom-picking is a national sport. 

And the taste is totally different, a lot more concentrated and bitter. The stalks are also a lot smaller than the asparagus I am used to, but the taste and combination of dishes at this time of year make asparagus an essential ingredient. In many ways, Spring is the best time of year for Croatian gastronomy, which is more dependent on seasons that the 24-hour, 12-month supermarkets back home. 

And one of the golden rules of life in Croatia is that if it grows, it deserves a festival to celebrate it. Some time ago I wrote an article, Natural Food Festivals - 25 Things to Know about Croatian Gourmet Goodness. Wild asparagus was not on the list back then, but it can be now, for Stari Grad is preparing to celebrate its third Sparogijada, or asparagus festival. It will take place at 17:00 on May 6 on the main square by the Hektorovic Fortress (Tvrdalj). Entrance is 50 kuna and there will be a range of asparagus dishes to try. 

Details of the organisers above, and a rather nice addition to the evening will be a performance from the legendary Faros Kandaturi - see them in action below. 

Want to learn more about Stari Grad? Here are 25 things to know.

The oldest public theatre in Europe reopened on May 1, 2019 on the island of Hvar, Croatia. Take this beautiful video tour.

It opened in 1612, the first public theatre in all Europe, a sign of the level of culture on the island of Hvar during Venetian rule over 400 years ago. 

Closed for 20 years for renovation, the Hvar public theatre reopened earlier this week for the first in three initial performances, as previously reported on TCN. 

A beautiful new drone video from Jaksa Kuzmicic takes us not only into and around the new theatre, but also places the theatre in its historical, on the main square of Hvar Town, and opposite the site where organised tourism began in Europe in 1868. This site will shortly be reopening with Hotel Palace Elisabeth, the first 5-star heritage hotel on the island. 

Check out the video below, and to learn more about why Hvar has the oldest public theatre in Europe, a very interesting TCN interview with art historian professor and author of a book on the first 400 years of the theatre, Mirjana Kolumbic, has the answers and much more.

To learn more about the island of Hvar, check out the Total Croatia Hvar in a Page. 

One of the several very nice developments in recent years on Hvar has been the rise in tourism in its inland villages. Located away from the coast (and ironically, the original settlements as locals wanted to avoid the attention of pirates), Hvar's inland villages lost out to the appeal of coastal towns and those gorgeous beaches for many years. 

Things are changing slowly, however, and tourism inland has never been busier. Several high-quality restaurants are bringing diners in from the coast, and activity tourism is showing visitors the heritage and traditions of this magnificent island which are lost to those who stick to the beach. 

And if you are looking for a hike and chance to explore the nature, history and traditions of Hvar, as well as some quite incredible views and food (the Hvar Mediterranean Diet was inscribed as UNESCO intangible heritage back in 2013), there is no better place to start than with the And Adventure Hike the Lost Villages of Hvar tour. It takes it two of the most magical villages in all Dalmatia. 

With collection from Hvar Town, the tour starts in the village of Velo Grablje, one of the most fascinating stories of any village in Dalmatia. A hundred years ago, it was the centre of lavender production for all Dalmatia, but with emigration and forest fires, the population dropped to just five a decade ago. The village was all but forgotten and abandoned until a group of young enthusiasts with family connections to the village decided to do something about it. 

They formed the NGO Pjover and set about celebrating the ancient traditions of the lavender village, as well as repairing some of the dry stone walls and buildings. The main event, the annual Lavender Festival in late June has already celebrated its tenth year and is surely the most aromatic festival in all Croatia. EU money has arrived, an (excellent) restaurant has opened called Zbondini, and there is even a fantastic pub in winter, which is VERY popular with the locals from Hvar Town, so much so that buses are laid on at the weekends to transport people. The population has grown from 5 to 14 the last time I checked, but may be more now, and there is a child living in the village for the first time in many years. 

All this is great news for those hiking, a chance to experience this rebirth close up, as well as hiking ancient trails and learning more about the various herbs and plant life along the way. Come in June or early July and you will see the fabled lavender in full bloom. If it a spectacular sight. 

The route continues downhill to the mysterious village of Malo Grablje, a village full of legends and history, but no inhabitants. During my time in real estate, it was the only village where there was nothing for sale, despite the fact that the whole village had been abandoned in the 1960s, when the entire village moved to the coast in Milna. They even dug up the graves of the ancestors and reburied them in Milna. You can still see the open graves in the small Malo Grablje cemetery. 

One of the curious legends of Malo Grablje surroundings the rather un-Croatian surname which every property owner has - Tudor. This is where Juventus legend, Igor Tudor, was born. But the legend says that the name originates from a bastard son of Henry VIII, who was shipwrecked just off nearby Milna. He met a pretty local girl washing clothes in the sea, they fell in love and founded a small village inland. Fact or fiction? That is for you to decide, but just one more piece in this love exploration of the Hvar countryside.

There may be nobody living in the village, but there is one outstanding traditional Dalmatian restaurant, one of the most highly rated on the island. The perfect stop for lunch and a closer examination of the natural goodness of this UNESCO Mediterranean Diet. 

After lunch, a walk through the Milna tunnel towards the coast. 

Few words are needed for this - the popular and gorgeous seaside village of Milna. We recommend you linger a while, go for a swim and build up an appetite for dinner, for the fish served at Milna is among the best on the island. And if you look closely enough, there may be some British royal resemblance in the faces of some of the restaurant owners... 

Alternatively, you can hike back to Hvar Town along another ancient trail. A fabulous day out seeing some of the finest natural Hvar beauty. To learn more about this and other hikes in Dalmatia, check out the And Adventure website. 

Want to learn more about the island of Hvar? Check out the Total Croatia Hvar in a Page.