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Stari Grad - information and photos
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.
Plaža Arkada - a swimming resort which is situated beneath a hotel complex in Stari Grad.
Paklena, Baba, Zavala and Žukova - 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).
