Great Bell Tower

Why it is worth your time

The Great Bell Tower is the most celebrated silhouette of the island of Rab and by many counts the finest campanile on the Adriatic: 26 metres of Romanesque perfection from the 12th century, a free-standing tower rising from the narrowest point of the old town through four storeys of biforas and triforas, ever airier toward the top, until a pyramid and cross close it. The builders knew their craft: storey by storey the openings grow wider and lighter, so the tower seems to lift itself toward the sky. The climb up wooden stairs through the tower's inside is part of the experience, creak, half-dark and bells overhead, and the reward is a view no photograph carries honestly: Rab's four bell towers in a row, red roofs on a narrow tongue of land, Kalifront on one side and the Velebit on the other.

In summer one climbs in short waves, for the top is small; patience pays. The tower stands beside the former cathedral at the town's most solemn end, so the ascent comes naturally as the crown of a walk along the Upper Street. The ticket is symbolic and the hours follow the season: check the board by the entrance.