Airport and transport – ferry to Split (around 48 km); international ferry to Ancona, Bari and Pescara (Italy); airports in Split and Island Brac.

History – Stari Grad (Pharos) is the oldest town in Croatia; 384 BC the Greeks (from the island of Paros in Agean Sea) have settled the town (on the ruins of the Illyrian settlement) and named it Pharos (independent state, permitted to mint its own money); when town Hvar became the island’s main town (13th century), Stari Grad stagnated and became simply known as Stari Grad (Old City); in 2008 the Stari Grad Plain (island’s best agricultural land; has been farmed since pre-historic times; marked out with roads at right angles, and divided into fields of standard size; today represents one of the best-preserved examples of ancient Greek agriculture throughout the Mediterranean) became a UNESCO protected world heritage site; the first church was built in the 5th century.

Interesting to see: Markun (the genius of death; Roman tombstone; 2nd century BC); church of St John (raised on the foundations of the twin Basilica from 5th/6th century); church of St Nicholas (14th century); church of St Jerome (15th century); Tvrdalj (16th century; fortified castle of a poet Petar Hektorović with the fish-pond); church of Saint Rok (16th century; under the stairs there is a floor mosaic, remains of Roman baths); church of St Stephan (17th century); Square Škor (Baroque Square; 17th-18th century); church of St Peter with Dominican monastery (15th century, rebuilt in 19th century; in monastery there is a museum with the oldest stone-inscriptions on Croatian ground, archaeological findings from Pharos…); House and Mausoleum of Šime Ljubića (19th century); windmill (19th century); Palace Biankini (neo renaissance house with a court and garden, today the Stari Grad Museum).

Info – the main seaport on the island; 2 817 inhabitants; rocky, concrete and pebble beaches.

Happenings: art and cultural events (workshops on ancient Faros, classical languages and culture, archaeological restoration of mosaics and pottery, open singing, puppetry and painting for children).

Good to know: The tower of the St. Stephen church (18th century) – ground floor is made of stone from town walls and tower entrance is exactly where the town entrance once was.