Conde Nast Traveler calls Hvar a 3-S tourist destination: Sun, Shore, and Sex. Instead we found here a 2-S site: Stari Grad and a lot of Stones just like the nearby stone-fenced Stari Grad Plain, the UNESCO agricultural site. Unfortunately, the Stari Grad ruins were the biggest disappointment of the trip, as only a few undocumented piles of stones mark the archeological site. Come to think of it, the sun and shore weren't all that great either, in my humble eStimation.A long bay on the north side of the island creates an excellent natural harbor leading to this spot. Greeks from Syracuse (Sicily) started a colony here called Pharos in the 4th century BC, making this one of the oldest civilized spots in Europe. When it founded its colony of ΦαÏος, Syracuse was probably the most important Greek city on the Mediterranean and at the peak of its power. War with Carthage would soon follow. Eventually the Greeks invited the Romans into Dalmatia to help them maintain their power. Not that good of an idea.
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