Two Rides For the Price of One!

Today we had an unusual schedule.  There were two rides – one in the morning and one in the afternoon.  

The first thing in the morning, we weighed anchor and departed Bol for the island of Hvar.

If you look close you can see Zlatni Rat Beach. It is amazing to see the hills in the background because somewhere in that picture we came up and over them from the other side !

Breakfast was served while we were on the move.  The bikes were ready and waiting!

Scenery on the way.

We docked on the outskirts of a town called Stari Grad.  It is in a deep bay on the North side of Hvar.  Our dock was part of a ferry landing for the island.

The bikes were unloaded and our group gathered for the first ride of the day.  The nice thing about this group is that everyone seems to be on time and ready to go without too much fuss.

Our first ride was basically a mostly flat circle tour on the side of the island we were on. We started out by riding toward Stari Grad, but didn’t stop there until the return part of our loop.

I did snap a few pictures from the bike as we passed through Stari Grad.

We continued on into the countryside where we rode through farm areas – olive groves, newly planted grapes and other crops just starting to grow.

It was a relaxed, pleasant ride on a lovely sunny day.

Before long, we arrived in a town called Jesla, which is a waterfront town just down the coast from where we landed.  I didn’t know we’d be stopping there, so I snapped a quick picture of the church.

We did end up stopping for a break there.  We parked the bikes in a wide area near the harbor.

We noticed that they had a town sign -so Mike took my picture by it.

I took a couple of pictures near the plaza before we joined the group at a cafe near the bikes.

Their church is the Church of St. Maria and it was established in the 1300’s.  It was updated in the 1500’s.  It was hard to get a good picture of it because so many other buildings have been built close to it.

I’ve been commenting to Mike that so far all of the towns we’ve visited have been very “tidy”…clean and welcoming.  Jesla was no different.   It was founded in the 1300’s and is best know for wine.  Each area or town of these islands seems to have a signature wine.

Our guides suggested that we try the Lavender gelato – and so I did! 

It was very mild in flavor.  Mike said he could taste the “herb-y” aftertaste. I  told him that it just tasted “purple” to me.  In the past, there was a significant lavender economy on the island and even though times have changed , the lavender tradition is being continued and celebrated by small family farms.

I thought this boat had character! (You can see our bikes parked in the background.

We wandered into a small park and found a statue.  The man being honored was a former mayor of the town and very instrumental in the development of the harbor area.

They had some lovely oasis-like area with benches along the harbor front.

After a nice break in Jesla we resumed our ride.  We followed a road along the harbor and continued along the coast heading toward a town called Vrboska.

A look back at Jesla from the other side of the harbor

My “artsy” attempt to capture a few riders behind me… unfortunately they are hard to see.

We arrived in Vrboska and stopped on this bridge for a group photo. 

Both of the pictures taken by Miranda are hilarious – we look like a ramshackle bunch for sure… I don’t think any of us knew when the photo was actually going to be taken because no one yelled… “Say cheese!” -or whatever they might say in Croatia.

We only passed through the outskirts of Vrboska -but it was developed in the 1400’s as a fishing harbor.

We were told ahead of time that part of today’s ride would be on an unpaved road.  It was a fun change of pace -trying to find the least bumpy parts to ride on.

About halfway through it, we made a rest stop.  At first I thought it was a random side of the road choice -but realized that it was actually a place specifically set up as a cyclist rest area.  There was a bike rack, a repair station, some stone seating and an informational sign.

Lucija took the opportunity to give us a bit of local knowledge.

What they refer to as the “Stari Grad Plane” is a UNESCO World Heritage site that includes Stari Grad’s town center.  Stari Grad is the oldest continually occupied city in Croatia.  Greek settlers arrived there in 384 B.C.  It is also referred to as “old Hvar” because it was known as Hvar until the inhabitants put themselves under Venetian protection in 1278.  It became Stari Grad after the Venetians eventually moved the capital to the current location of Hvar on the South side of the island because it was a more convenient location for the Venetian fleet.

Petar Hectorovic lived from 1487-1572. He was a poet and writer. The building behind the statue was his summer home. Motivated by an attack from the Ottomans in the 1500’s – he created a place that could be self-supporting in future invasions -there were garden areas, fresh water sources, a fish pond…etc.

Next we continued into Stari Grad, but this time we stopped for a short break.  We didn’t have much time to look around, but I enjoyed wandering a bit and taking some photos.

The “Summer House” sits at the back of this large plaza.

I saw one side of this wooden door open and grabbed a “secret garden” picture.

After Stari Grad, it was a hop, skip and a jump back to the ferry dock and the Colombo.  We sat down for a great lunch and had about an hour to get ready for the second ride. 

~to be continued…

Categories: Part 3: Hvar