Arne was during many years one of my closest friends. We sailed together on Swedish Caprice, we explored many far away places and we ran a successful business together. But, as happens, we came apart and din’t see each other for more than 15 years. Now the whole family got an invite from Arne and his wife Rada to come to one of their several abodes in a small village on the island of Hvar in Croatia. They spent time during their summers at Jelsa, where Rada had memories going back in time to her youth (just like I have many memories associated with the west coast of Sweden).
We arrived in late July, where the days still were too hot for us to handle, but the early mornings and late evenings were very pleasant. We walked around Jelsa and to the nearby villages and took longer tours by car and by boat around the island of Hvar.
The churches were, like in many places around the world, beautiful and a magnet for my camera. The Church of St John just above the harbour with its tower shooting up high above the surrounding houses held a special attraction. In the evening the doors were slightly ajar letting light shining in along the nave towards the altar. I waited patiently until the sun rays hit the centre of the altar and just moved aside so much that the shadow of my tripod shouldn’t destroy the solemn feeling (see images below).
One morning we walked along the coast from Jelsa to Vrboska, where croissants and a cappuccino awaited us. The images below are from Vrboska harbour. Vrboska was situated at the mouth of a little stream entering an equally narrow bay on the north side of Hvar.
One day we took a car to the south side of the island and the deserted village of Malo Grablje. We saw the remnants of an old mill, what was left of old stone houses and of course the equally deserted church.
Outside Hvar there are a number of smaller stone islands. We had lunch on one of them (see the very first image) and visited the chapel of St Clemence. See the image above and below.
