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Stari Grad (ancient Pharos)
is a town and a harbour at the end of the four nautical mile long bay on the
northern side of the island of Hvar. The town is surrounded with vineyards,
olive-groves and pine tree forest. Chief occupations include farming,
viniculture, olive growing, fruit growing, grapes processing, fishing and
tourism.
Stari Grad is a modern tourist centre. A variety of accommodation facilities (hotels, apartments, rooms,
camps and bungalows), domestic specialities offered in the restaurants and
wine cellars (especially seafood and famous Croatian wines) and sports and
recreational opportunities (tennis, basketball, football and boccia including
water sports surfing and diving) attract many visitors.
The summer months offer numerous cultural and sports events: The Summer of
Stari Grad, concerts, recitals and shows. Stari Grad hosts the International Summer Music School in July and August. The first Sunday in September
attracts many swimmers on the Faros Marathon, international Croatia cup in long-distance swimming. The surrounding sea is well-known for its rich fish
world, and the beaches are rocky, concrete and pebble. Smaller beaches are
located in the coves inside the bay, and the underwater fishing is possible
along the northern coast of the bay.
The most famous beaches in Stari Grad are:
Lanterna - a city beach 800 m far away from the centre of the town.
Maslina - a sandy cove which is situated nearby a ferry port.
Banj - a city beach which is made up of a
gravel part and concrete boards.
Hotel swimming resort - a swimming resort
which is situated beneath a hotel complex in Stari Grad.
Paklena, Baba, Zavala and Zukova - gravel and rocky beaches which
are situated on a peninsula Kabal that closes a deep bay of Stari Grad.
 Stari Grad (eng. Old Town) is the oldest place on the island, founded by the Ancient Greeks in 385/384 BC as
an independent polis of Pharos. At the time of the Roman colonisation it was
called Pharis. From the formation of the Hvar commune in 1278, when Hvar became the island's main
town, Stari Grad stagnated. The Greek town remained buried under the present
day Stari Grad and only some fragmental architectural remains indicate its
original lay-out, such as some parts of the 11 metre long Greek walls. These walls are a part of the north city wall, while the east walls are just visible behind the church of St . John. The stone blocks from the city walls were incorporated into the
foundations of the bell tower indicates that this was the place
where the main entrance of the town was.
Stari Grad is the city of cultural monuments. The most famous are: the
church of St. John (raised on the antique foundations of the twin
Basilica from the early Christian church - 5th/6th century), the church of
St. Jerome (medieval chapel), the church of St. Nicolas (built in
the 14th century), remains of the church of St. Lucia (from the 15th
century - in 1571 destroyed by Turks), the church of St. Roch (built by Petar Hektorovic in the 16th century),
the church of St. Peter and the Dominican Monastery (in this monastery
there is museum with the oldest stone-inscriptions on Croatian ground,
many archaeological findings from Pharos as well as other precious things), the
parish church of St. Stephen (built in 1605 at the place
where was first Hvar cathedral) and Tvrdalj (fortified castle of a poet Petar
Hektorovic).
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