Day 7
Hvar discovery day. Moving from the hotel to the Ferry by golf cart – beats walking the chatty, hungover driver pointed to the seats and said “That’s your boat” Turns out it wasn’t, our boat was the next one down. Not to reader ‘always check things out’. One hour on a ferry with a smooth ride we arrived, disembarked to find the guide. Luggage went one way we went the other -off the discover Hvar (wiki ref here). First 
stop was a large room with a domed roof. Previously used as the “Arsenal”. Once used as a dry dock for the Venetian Fleets. Now the floor filled in and the place is an excellent exhibition space. Above the Arsenal in the same building was the local Theatre – built in 1621 and renovated in 1893 and many times since. Out in the sun we walked through the main square to the parking lot where a van took us to the Fortress. An impressive sight with magnificent views overlooking the harbour. Many things to see here but in part of the history was the use as a Prison. So we looked at the cells. Down a very small spiral staircase a few cells remained – not a nice place.
Back in the van we motored around the Island, gawking at the views. Finally we came to an abandoned village called Malo Grad (Grad means village/Town/City) . The lone occupants of the place was a restaurant. Here we were presented with a “Traditional” lunch. Three courses, the main course being a large tray of Meat – veal and lamb with potatoes and vegetables. Mighty tasty. Apparently, probably after a crop failure the complete village just packed up and left. The houses are in ruins and the remains of the Mill are still in place.
After lunch we motored down the mountain and stopped for pics at a spot that showed the remains of the huge terraced, now fallow, vineyards. A huge fire in 1991 destroyed the trees and they have never been replanted. Something to do with nobody knowing who has original title to the land, so nobody knows who to negotiate with for replacements. Onto another small seaside Town – Stari Grad. This place was a really small Town (population 2,772), lots of boats on the docks and eleven churches. We managed to see three in plain sight. The tour was over we had to ask the tour guide to take us back as we were sure that she was stalling to get us past the hotel check-in time. Again another hotel on a hill. The rooms were on the second floor and up a flight of stairs from the main Square. We have been averaging about our 10,000 steps each day so far.
Finished the evening of with a strange BLT sandwich (it was made from a pita/panini crist not bread) and a beer.