Old Town on the Islet

Why it is worth your time

Primosten's old town is one of the Adriatic's most photogenic silhouettes: a round islet studded with stone houses spiralling up to the church on top, joined to the mainland by the causeway from which the place took its name, from the verb primostiti, to bridge over. The islet was settled in the 16th century, before the Ottoman advances, by refugees from the hinterland; the bridge was raised at night, and towers and walls guarded what could be defended. Today the defensive logic reads in the plan: lanes narrow so they were easier to defend, houses pressed one against another, and every passage leads either to the church or to the sea.

The walk is simple and precisely for that perfect: enter through the town gate, let the climb itself lead you in a spiral to St George, then descend the other side to the waterfront; half an hour suffices for the loop, but the pauses stretch it into a whole early evening. The loveliest view of the islet is not from it but from Raduca beach or the Gaj hill, when at dusk the lights come on and the town sets sail. The taverns in the stone ground floors are the reason to return after sunset.