The shaded square
Old trees and cafés around the marina.
Carsten Steger — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Falk2 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Falk2 — CC BY-SA 3.0 de · Falk2 — CC BY-SA 3.0 de
A town on the northern coast of Hvar, and the **quiet alternative** to Hvar Town: the same harbour, the same stone and the same water, with a third of the noise and less than half the price. It grew up as the port for inland **Pitve**, and around its marina is a square shaded by old trees, with cafés and small churches. Around it are vineyards, lavender and pine running down to the water. The most famous thing to come out of Jelsa is a grape: **Plavac Mali**, Dalmatia''s leading red, which genetic work showed to be a descendant of **Zinfandel/Tribidrag** — the discovery that settled the origin of American Zinfandel in the 1990s and traced it back to the Croatian coast. Note: Jelsa holds a tradition with no parallel. On the night of Maundy Thursday, the procession **«Following the Cross»** (Za Križen) sets out: six groups from six villages leave simultaneously, each led by a young man walking **barefoot** for some 25 kilometres through the night, returning at dawn. It has run since **1510** and is on the UNESCO intangible heritage list.
Old trees and cafés around the marina.
Dalmatia''s best-known red grape in the fields around the town.
Six groups, barefoot young men, 25 km through the night.
Jelsa, island of Hvar — about 27 km east of Hvar Town
**Plavac Mali** is Dalmatia''s leading red: a powerful, high-alcohol, dark wine with black fruit and herbs, its best-known sites the slopes of Hvar and the Pelješac peninsula. The scientific story is the interesting part. The origin of American **Zinfandel** was a puzzle for decades, with suspicion falling on Italy and Croatia. In the 1990s the University of California, Davis began genetic work on Dalmatian vines and found first that Plavac Mali was **related** but not the same; then in 2001 a few old vines near Split of the variety **Tribidrag (Crljenak)** proved to be **Zinfandel itself**. Plavac Mali is **its offspring**, a natural cross between it and a Dubrovnik variety. ⚠ Tastings are available at small growers around Jelsa and Sveta Nedjelja.
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