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The island of Hvar
Hvar, the
island in Adriatic Sea, is the longest and the sunniest Croatian island and
one of the most beautiful islands in the world. It is a part of the central
Dalmatian archipelago with the area of 299.6 sq km (length 68.2 km, width up
to 10.5 km) and population of 11,459 inhabitants. Hvar Island is
administratively part of the Split-Dalmatia county in Dalmatia, Croatia.
Map of the
island of Hvar
The major places
(all on the coast of the island) are: the town of Hvar,
Stari
Grad, Jelsa,
Sucuraj
and Vrboska. Other
places on the coast are: Milna, Sveta
Nedilja, Ivan Dolac and Zavala.
Places which aren’t on the coast are: Brusje, Grablje, Selca kod Starog
Grada, Dol, Rudina, Vrbanj, Svirce, Vrisnik, Pitve, Humac, Poljica,
Zastrazisce, Gdinj, Bogomolje and Selca kod Bogomolja.
Island Hvar is separated from the island of Brac (by the Hvar Channel), from the island of Vis
(by the Vis Channel), from the island of Korcula (by the Korcula Channel) and
from peninsula Peljesac (by the Neretva Channel), while the east cape of
the island (Sucuraj) is located just three nautical miles away from the
mainland (Drvenik on Makarska Riviera). In front of the western part of
the southern coast of Hvar are Pakleni
Islands (Pakleni Otoci), and in front of the middle part the island of
Scedro. A crest stretches across the middle part of the island, with the
highest peak Sveti Nikola (St. Nicholas) (628 m); north of it is the fertile
Big Field (Velo Polje). The northern coast of the island, with the spacious
Stari Grad Bay and a number of coves, is much more indented than the
southern.
The island Hvar is famous for its pleasant Mediterranean climate. The island
is characterized by gentle winters, warm summers and many hours of sunshine
(2,718 hours a year). Maximum temperatures are never too high to render
agriculture impossible (the highest recorded temperature of 37°C was reached
in 1935). An average air temperature in the winter months is 9.1°C (in
January 8.4°C, in July 24.8°C). Snow occurs very rarely; in January there are
three snowy days in ten years and in February only one.
Economy is based on tourism, fishing, farming, viticulture, olive growing and
especially on cultivation of rosemary and lavender. The island of Hvar has
three fish canneries: Sucuraj,
Vrboska and Hvar.
Major places on the island are connected by the regional road D-116 Hvar -
Sucuraj. Ferry lines: Sucuraj – Drvenik, Stari Grad –
Split, Stari Grad – Ancona (Italy). Boat lines: Hvar - Split and Jelsa – Bol
(island Brac) - Split. More travel information you can find here.
The island of Hvar was populated already in the prehistoric times and later
inhabited by the Illyrians, who came into conflict with the Greek colonizers
in the 4th century BC. In Oglavak and Koscak (near Sucuraj on the east cape
of island) was the position of the Illyrian queen Teuta
place. Numerous tumuli on the island are of Illyrian origin. Hvar accepted
the Greek settlers but was the only one that had an Ionic settlement (Pharos,
today Stari Grad). Hvar played an important role in the Roman-Illyrian
conflicts, when its rulers (Demetrije Hvaranin) tried to preserve its
independence. In Roman times Hvar lost its earlier importance.
In the 7th century island Hvar came under the Principality of Croatia
(Kingdom of Croatia since 925 till 1102). In the following centuries Hvar
recognized the sovereignty of the Croatian-Hungarian ruler, the Bosnian King
Tvrtko, the Split Duke Hrvoje, the Dubrovnik Republic, Venice, France,
Austria, Italy, Yugoslavia and, finally, Republic of Croatia (since 1991).
In the 16th and the 17th centuries Hvar was a
prominent centre of the Croatian literature (Petar Hektorovic, Hanibal
Lucic). The town of Hvar and other towns and villages on the island have
numerous architectural and cultural monuments,
which bear witness to outstanding artistic traditions of the island, the
economic prosperity of its population and the relations Hvar used to maintain
with cultural centres of the past centuries.
Friendly people, well-indented coast, numerous picturesque and intact beaches and
bays, virgin nature, very rich historical and
cultural inheritance, the scents of lavender, olive trees and wine are
the reasons that island Hvar welcomes more and more tourists each year.
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