Humac, Hvar, Croatia

 

Ah, Humac....  According to Wikipedia  (this cracked me up considering I sort of thought Humac was a hippy restaurant in an abandoned village), "Humac is an uninhabited hamlet on Hvar, Croatia.  Located 350 m above sea level, 10 km from Jelsa, is a very old village where man has been living for centuries. There are many simple houses made of stone in its surroundings called trim, built without binder in a way that they become narrower towards the top. Many of them have their original foundations from early Stone Age. Inhabitants of Humac have been occupied with cattle and wine growing for thousands years, and in around 1950 they started growing lavender. In the last few centuries people didn't live in Humac (while living in village Vrsnik), but spent time in Humac during major agrarian works. These days village is brought to life only once a year, on St. John and Paul's day, patron saints of Humac, which is 26th of June and when inhabitants return to their roots. On other days there is only Tavern "Humac" (Konoba "Humac" in Croatian) working most of days with vegetables from eco-gardens and meal cooked old style.

There is also old church, available for siteseeing. On some days there are sightseeings of Grapčeva spilja (Grapcheva cave), which is 40 minute from Humac. This is a typical cave in Dalmatian rocks with beautiful stalactites and stalagmites and represents one of the most important archaeological sites in Croatia."

This was our 2nd time to Humac- the last time we'd gone up with Ana's mom and Naomi for a wonderful octopus meal (cooked on a wood fire under a traditional bell-topped pot), eaten on a big stone table.  At dusk, overlooking the sea.  Really lovely.  We wanted to go back again, and this time ordered chicken, octopus and lamb and filled up the stone table!  Shortly thereafter, we went back to do the tour of the cave near Humac in which a stone etching/ painting ? of a boat was found.  This stone fragment from 3500-2500 BCE and is included in Hvar culture, an ocean-going culture from around the time of the Minoans!  Some images from Humac:

 

These were sardines.

lovely cheese.

ants!

Octopus and potatoes.

Bella has the key to the church!

On the way to the cave....

Bella making shadow puppets.  I missed the photo of her shadow puppet eating Tom's head :-(

After the hike, we head back to the restaurant to watch them start cooking and for the kids to look for lizards...

Bulk lavender.

Ana's mom, Tsvieta.