Hvar
The town and the port on the southern coast of the extreme western part of the island. It is located in the cave in front of which are Pakleni otoci (the Hell Islands). The climate is distinctively Mediterranean, with small amount of precipitation. Winters are very gentle, suitable for convalescents and asthmatics. Vegetation is very rich and almost tropical (palms, myrtle, agaves, laurel, rosemary, pines, stone pines, etc.). Today, Hvar is very developed tourist center with numerous hotels, camps, nudist beaches, and marinas. The construction of the town walls that come from the hill to the eastern and western edge of the main town square had begain in the late Middle Ages. The citadel of the town with the residence of potestat was built in the 13th century on top of the hill. In 1551, a new fortress has been built, and it was reconstructed in the 18th century.
The center of the old part of the town is the town square, the core of the town-planning layout from the 15th century. Above the square, inside the town walls, there are partly preserved palaces of the noblemen of Hvar. The houses of citizens were on the southern slope. On the square, you can see the monumental building of Arsenal. Its construction begain in 1579, and it was finished in 1611 (according to the inscription above the door). Beside Arsenal is Belvedere, building with a large terrace, which was in 1612 adapted to be grain storage and magazine for other goods. The prince of Hvar, Semitecolo, who raised Belvedere also raised another floor on Arsenal, and built a theater in 1612. It is the oldest theater in Croatia and it is still active (it was reconstruted in 1806). On the square there is also the cathedral of St. Stjepan. It is a renaissance building from the 16th - 17th century, built in the place of the Benedictine abbey from the 12th century. The pseudo-Romanesque belfry from the 17th century is right next to it. In the treasury of the cathedral, beside the old paintings and liturgical objects, there is also the crosier. In front of the cathedral, on the square, is the town well from 1529. On the northern side is the Paladini Palace. A characteristic street with lots of staircases climbs from the square towards the Fortica fortress.
There is also the unfinished Hektorović Palace (in embellished Gothic style, from the 15th century). The clock-tower Leroj (building started in 1466 in the late Gothic style) was finished in the style of renaissance in the 16th century. The town loggia is from 1479. In the old part of the town there are two small churches: of SS. Kuzma and Damjan from the 15th - 16th century, with wooden ceiling; and of the Holy Ghost, in Gothic style with valuable paintings. On the eastern side, outside of the town walls is a renaissance summer residence of Hanibal Lucić from the 16th century. On the south side, on the promontory between two coves, there is the Franciscan monastery built between 1461 and 1464, with renaissance cloister from 1489 and the church of Our Lady of Mercy. In the church is the grave of Hanibal Lucić as well as a number of valuable paintings.
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