| The best view of HVAR TOWN is from the sea, the tiny town centre
contoured around the bay, grainy-white and brown with green splashes of
palms and pines bursting from every crack and cranny. At the centre, the
creamy brown main square cuts its way in, flanked by the arcaded bulk of
the Venetian arsenal. The upper storey of the arsenal was added in 1612
to house the city theatre ( kazalite ; daily: summer 10am-noon & 8-11pm;
winter 10am-noon; 10kn), the oldest in Croatia and one of the first in
Europe. It's since been converted to a cinema, but the painted Baroque
interior has survived pretty much intact. The square culminates in the
skeletal campanile of Hvar's Cathedral (no fixed opening times, but
usually open mornings), a sixteenth-century construction with an
eighteenth-century facade that's a characteristic mixture of Gothic and
Renaissance styles. Inside is routine enough, but the Bishop's Treasury
(Riznica; daily: summer 9am-noon & 5-7pm; winter 10am-noon; 10kn) is
worth the entry fee for its small but fine selection of chalices,
reliquaries and embroidery. Look out for a nicely worked sixteenth-century
crozier, carved into a serpent, encrusted with saints and embossed with
a figure of the Virgin attended by Moses and an Archangel.
The rest of the old town backs away from the piazza in an elegant
confusion of twisting lanes and alleys. Up above, the Fortress (Kastil;
June-Sept daily 8am-8pm; 10kn) is a good example of sixteenth-century
military architecture. The views over Hvar and the islands beyond are
well worth the trek to the top. From the fort you can pick out the
fifteenth-century Franciscan Monastery (Franjevacki samostan; Mon-Fri
10am-noon & 5-7pm; 10kn), to the left of the harbour, a sliver of white
against the blue of the sea. The monastery has a small collection of
paintings, mostly obscure Venetian, which includes a tender, dark and
modernistic Ecce Homo by Leandro Bassano and, stretching right across
one wall, a melodramatic, almost life-size Last Supper attributed to
Matteo Ingoli. Next door, the monastic church is pleasingly simple, with
beautifully carved choir stalls and a fanciful partition dating from
1583; look out for the extravagant dragon candle-holders.
The beaches nearest to Hvar town are rocky and crowded, and it's best to
make your way towards the Pakleni otoci (the Islands of Hell), just to
the west of Hvar. Easily reached by water taxi from the harbour (about
15kn each way), the Pakleni are a chain of eleven wooded islands, only
three of which have any facilities (simple bars and restaurants):
Jerolim island, the nearest, offers nudist bathing; next is Marinkovac -
partly nudist, but with a main beach, U Stipanska; then Sv Klement, the
largest of the islands - here, most people head for Palmizana, one of
its most attractive coves with a fine shingle beach. Bear in mind that
camping is forbidden throughout Pakleni.
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