"Tropez, Majorca, Aspen, and other glamour destinations
don't have anything on Hvar, the glitzy Croatian playground patronized by
celebrities, the idle rich, and the average Joe tourist who wants to find
out what the Hvar hoopla is about.
Hvar is indeed a lush, sunny Shangri-la with more hours of sunshine (2,724)
than any other place in Croatia, according to the literature. But when you're
talking just 24 more hours of rays than Brac (2,700) and only 124 hours
(4 days) more than most of Croatia's other islands, you're splitting hairs.
Nonetheless, some Hvar hotels will discount the price of your room if it
rains for 4 hours on any given day and give you a free night if it snows
(fat chance).
Ultraviolet rays aside, Hvar is a lovely piece of real estate with vineyards,
fields of lavender and other aromatic herbs, a few interesting sites, a
lot of good restaurants, and some rather expensive -- but historic -- places
to stay.
Hvar's principal towns are Hvar Town, Stari Grad, Vrboska, Jelsa, and Sucuraj,
though Hvar Town seems to be the center of current interest in the island.
Lavender Blues Hvar is sometimes known as "Lavender Island" because
the graceful plant with silver-green foliage and a hypnotic fragrance grows
in profusion all over the place. Lavendula, as the plant is known in botanical
circles, is a native of the dry Mediterranean climate and is the subject
of many legends and superstitions. It is also thought to have medicinal
properties.
One legend claims that lavender acquired its soothing
fragrance when Mary hung baby Jesus's swaddling clothes on a bush and transformed
it.
A popular superstition says that lavender flowers scattered between
the mattress and sheet of the conjugal bed will prevent spousal arguments.
Today dried lavender flowers are used as sachets to add a pleasant scent
to closets and drawers, and lavender oil is used to promote relaxation.
On Hvar, lavender is an industry and you'll pick up the lavender scent as
soon as you disembark from the boat that brought you there, because it is
sold in kiosks up and down the dock at Hvar Town.
It is said that the whole
island is enveloped in a cloud of lavender scent in the spring, and that
may be so. But in the summer of 2005 in Hvar Town, the only lavender we
saw or smelled originated at the kiosks on the dock. "
The New York" Times 2008"