HVAR CAN MEAN THE MOST CHERISHED MEMORIES
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Rare are the ones who have a chance to travel the world, yet choose to return to one place over and over. We sat with our beloved guests, the Jacksons, yesterday at our Adriana to find out more about the incredible story of their love for Hvar.
John and Barbara Jackson are a lovely and lively couple from London. They are well known faces to people of Hvar because they have been coming here for 41 years now, two or three times a year, always early and late in the season. John says that once people get here, they will always come back.
They were both journalists and their main hobby in life was travelling. Since 1972 they have been holidaying on Hvar, first with their children, later on alone or with friends and grandchildren, but they never wanted to own a house here because they cherish their freedom. Amazingly, the Jacksons were coming here during all war years even though it was a life threatening adventure, especially once when they came by car.
Meeting the Jacksons is like travelling through time. They talked about how things used to be, about the golden years of Hvar tourism, about their favourite ferries from Rijeka, better airport connections in the eighties, the people they met and watched them grow up or get older... Their favourite hotel was Palace and now it’s Adriana. They are huge fans of long walks. They used to walk from Hvar to Sveta Nedilja. They walked to Milna hundreds of times and yesterday was no exception. Barbara enjoys swimming in September and October, but John doesn’t like two things about swimming: you have to take your clothes off and get wet! They know everything there is to know about Hvar history, tradition and way of life. All their memories are happy ones; Hvar has always been a family time for them. Barbara loves to watch Croatian news (Dnevnik) every night and she always brings Croatian soap powder Plavi Radion back to England; she says it takes care of everything.
Mr and Ms Jackson celebrated their Golden wedding anniversary two years ago in Hotel Palace with their four children and eight grandchildren, family and friends from New Zealand, Australia and England. Their eldest son held a speech at the celebration and he said that Hvar still smells the same. He hasn’t been on Hvar in years and fragranced air is his memory of Hvar when he was a small boy. The Jacksons are planning to return many times more and celebrate their Diamond wedding anniversary on their favourite island, where else?