Sućuraj, island of Hvar

Sućuraj

It is 77 km from the town of Hvar by road that runs along the entire island. By ferry line, with a sailing time of 25 minutes, it is connected to Drvenik on the mainland, which is 86 km from Split, 58 km from the Pelješac Bridge, and 136 km from Dubrovnik.

Sućuraj was founded by Napoleon’s decree on April 25, 1811. The name originated from St. George who slays the dragon. The Hvar statute of 1331 mentions the Church of St. George from the 13th century, and a new one was built in the 19th century. The Church of St. Anthony of Padua in the Baroque style and the Monastery of St. Augustine are sacred monuments.

In the 3rd century BC, the Illyrian queen Teuta had a castle in this area, and to the north, buildings sunk into the sea. In 1613, Venice built the “Fortica” fortress there for defense against the Turks. From the 15th century, refugees fleeing the Turks arrived, and a monument from 1655 written in Croatian Cyrillic is preserved.

During World War I in 1916, a French submarine sank a passenger-cargo steamer of Dubrovnik Shipping near Sućuraj. And in World War II, it was the strongest stronghold of antifascism on the island of Hvar.

Today it has a fleet of about ten fishing boats, and in the Mrtnovik bay, there is a fish farm and a plant for salting sardines. Olive oil is produced in two mills, wine Plame and Oka, and honey.

In Sućuraj, there are about ten catering establishments, and an auto-camp has been built in the bay of Mlaska. On the south side, there is the Česminica beach and on the north Bilina, as well as the bays of Perna and Mlaska. The Fisherman’s Night in Sućuraj is the best moment to taste and visit all of this in a few days, not to mention the sunken city…

Looking from a height that always suggests some superiority, Hvar looks like a Needle. This Italian-superior name – Lesina (Needle) – the appearance of Hvar, that Hvar stretch, which extends from the eye of its hollow, as a passage where Veliko and Malo Grablje are located, ending with the pointed tip of St. George’s spear, in Sućuraj. That PASSAGE has never had and does not have any “gates,” neither earthly nor watery nor airy nor fiery. Our orientation that seeks some regularity, correctness, judgment, which is totally disoriented if it does not “handle” and does not threaten with some beginning and end, does not notice nor suspect that the “PASSAGE” is the Eternal Infinite Openness of the World, the Eternal Sparkle of Events, and consideration – “Taking into account” – without selection and simplification, the power of the Spirit by which one matures. The world is neither guilty nor wrong, nor sinful, but the Eternal greening of possibilities as the NEW, as Hvar – the SOURCE OF LIFE greens, not with rain and clouds, but with the spontaneity of DEW – water from CLEAR SKIES.