Our island hopping green adventure was coming to an end – after Palmižana and Hvar, we visited Stari Grad and Jelsa, smaller towns on the Island of Hvar. Both were so colourful, peaceful, and full of interesting streets and alleyways to wander and get lost around.
Day four – Stari Grad
We got up early, our skipper mapped out our route for the day and then we headed towards another gorgeous and isolated bay to clean up the beach and envy the people who lived at the only house there.
After the cleanup, we went swimming and headed towards Stari Grad. Stari Grad actually has the small island village charmed that I think Hvar lost, and I really liked it. Everyone was really relaxed, strolling around, drinking beer and just enjoying life, “fjaka” style. The literal translation of its name is “Old Town” – it’s one of the oldest towns in Europe, and a part of it falls within the UNESCO Protected World Heritage Site of the Stari Grad Plain. This fertile plain has kept its Greek field layout throughout the ages, thanks to continuing maintenance of its dry stone walls.
We had a cup of coffee there, and then a little purple bus picked us up to take us to Hora farm for wine tasting and dinner. We got there and were greeted by our host Ana with some homemade medica (honey grappa) which everyone loved. Everything we ate was homemade and it tasted divine!
First, we planted some lettuce, to earn our dinner.
Then we went to see the animals, passing by the beautiful and aromatic lavender fields.We got to see chickens, geese, pigs and turkeys, and everyone’s favourite – two donkeys.
We ate, tasted four types of wine, said goodbye to Ana and the staff, had a photoshooting on the lavender field, and went back to the harbour, this time with the top on the purple bus being down, enjoying the sunset and the breeze.
Day five – Jelsa
We stopped for a swim while sailing to Jelsa and got there sometime around 4. We were greeted by a friendly waitress from a nearby restaurant called Me and Mrs Jones, who brought over limoncello for everyone. We wandered around the charming streets and grabbed a refreshing Radler to cool down before dinner at 8.
Jodie and Leah rented bikes (20 kn per hour, which is pretty cheap) and biked to nearby Vrboska, which they say was very pretty. We still had 5 hours left until dinner, so we made a quick (and cheap meal for everyone) – pasta with pesto and tomatoes – half a kilo of pasta, one jar of pesto and some cherry tomatoes fed 5 people.
Then I stopped by the famous Bench, got accepted to it (much to my boss Paul’s chagrin) and had a quick chat with the local barbe, who were talkative and charming as always.
Dinner was superb – five steps from the boat, fabulous food, even better service and a great interior, with a really interesting background story – it used to be the captain’s house.
Our sailing trip was slowly coming to an end and it felt really bittersweet because I hadn’t expected it to be that great.
Next (and final) stop – Makarska.
