Hvar: Abandoned Lavender Fields
Type
Site of historic interest: Hvar’s lavender industry
Driving east from Brusje and Vela Grablje you will find yourself in an area of mountainous valleys with mile after mile of abandoned terraces and fields. While small areas are still lovingly maintained the vast majority are left to wild plant growth.
These are the fields from the height of Hvar’s lavender industry and were abandoned following fire and a decline in the industry in the early 20th Century. Next to these fields, just before the road wends its way down towards the Stari Grad area you will also see a disused lime kiln standing by the side of the road. Again this points to the industrial nature of the lavender industry at its peak, when limestone was quarried and reduced in killns such as these to create quicklime for ‘improving’ the soil.
As you travel through the mountains between Stari Grand and Hvar Town you will also see big tracts of abandoned fields that tell of the extent of Hvar’s lavender production into the early 20th Century. It is fields such as these that once surrounded the pretty mountain town of Vela Grablje
Access
The abandoned fields are accessed by road either from Hvar Town or Stari Grad.
Links
Location
Otok Hvar: Take the mountain road from Hvar Town to Stari Grad. You will pass through the village of Brusje and then find yourself in the active fields of Lavender beyond these you will come to areas that are now abandoned. Park safely on the side of the road to view the fields.
Saturday, 23 April 2011
