Vis

Vis, Croatia

Low angle view of Vis harbour at golden hour with pebbles in the foreground and fishing boats along the quay.

Vis is a quiet Adriatic island of pebble coves, fishing harbours and a Greek past, still a boat ride from Split.

The place

Vis is a limestone island in the Adriatic, south of Split, and the ferry docks at the harbour of the town that shares its name. Rain sinks straight into the karst, so no stream runs all year. Underground, water collects where the limestone meets older evaporite rock called the Komiža salt diapir. That hidden store is why Vis can draw on fresh water of its own, unlike most islands in this sea. The wells depend on rainfall alone, so a long drought, a busy summer of extra taps, or dirt reaching the aquifer can shrink the supply. The highest ground reaches 587 metres. Measured across, Vis comes to 90.26 square kilometres, or 34.85 square miles. The town of Vis occupies a broad bay: a working harbour, stone houses above the quay, swimming from pebble and rock. Komiža, on the western shore, faces open sea and grew as the fishing port. Between them lie vines, olives and low scrub. About a fifth of the farmable ground is vineyard, growing Plavac Mali, Kurteloška and Vugava, the last of these native to Vis. People on Vis still make a living from vines, the catch, processing fish and visitors. A naval base held the coast for decades after the Second World War, and civilian travel returned only in 1989, so the shore never gained a line of big resorts. In high summer the known coves fill, yet much of the shore stays quiet and still looks like bare stone and open water.

Its story

Vis has been inhabited since the Neolithic. Illyrians lived here, and from the eighth to the sixth century BC they were under Liburnian domination. In the fourth century BC Syracuse's ruler, Dionysius the Elder, settled Greeks at Issa (Ἴσσα) in a bid to hold the Adriatic. From Issa, settlers set up Tragurion, now Trogir, and Epetion, now Stobreč, as trading posts on the mainland, and the city's own coins travelled well beyond the island. Its room to manoeuvre shrank during the first war between Illyrians and Rome, when stronger states started treating the island as a bargaining piece. In the civil war Issa backed Pompey, and in 47 BC it lost its privileges, becoming an oppidum of Roman citizens dependent on Salona. The old town stood on the western slope above a wide bay. Digging under the slope has revealed where streets ran and where houses stood, inside a Greek wall-circuit that still reads as a crooked quadrilateral. Tombs on the site contained ceramics, among them pieces brought from the south of Italy. Masonry from the Roman theatre's seating is built into the Franciscan monastery. Venice, Napoleonic Italy and the Austrian Empire all ruled Vis before the end of the First World War. Fleets fought twice in the nineteenth century in the sea just north of the island; the 1866 action is the Battle of Lissa. Rapallo's 1920 settlement moved Vis into the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. During the Second World War, Partisan headquarters sat on Vis, and afterwards the Yugoslav navy held the island as a base until 1989.

What to see

Culture

Vis still behaves as a fishing and wine island that only recently had to make room for tourists. In Komiža the falkuša, the local fishing boat, is part of how people tell the town's story, and on the terraces Plavac Mali, Kurteloška and Vugava are spoken of as island grapes, Vugava especially as native here. The coast was a naval base until 1989, which kept big resorts away and left a plain, slightly reserved welcome. The Partisan headquarters of the Second World War is remembered as something that happened here, not as a show. People in both towns talk about that period without dressing it up for the ferry crowd. The Franciscan monastery, with Roman theatre stone in its walls, is a working religious house. Summer days mean swimming from rock and pebble, a long lunch, and an evening on the quay. A few beaches are textile-optional and lie off the town front, reached by a climb over rock. On Vis, keep textile-optional swimming to those out-of-the-way coves, dress before walking back through town, and use fresh water sparingly, because the supply under the limestone is finite.

What to wear

Clothing on Vis divides into feast-day dress and what the quay actually wears. For processions and folk groups, Dalmatian island costume means linen or cotton shirts, wool waistcoats, dark trousers or full skirts, and embroidery kept for ceremony. Everyday cloth used to be simpler: light shirts and caps on the boats, wool when the bora rose, and practical clothes for vines and church. That older dress now appears mainly at festivals. Summer on Vis is shorts, a simple dress, sandals and a hat, with a collared linen shirt for dinner at an eatery and little interest in city formality. The long naval presence did not leave a military look on the street. Visitors need clothes for limestone, pebbles and hard sun. Wet-friendly shoes help on the beaches and rough paths. Shoulders and knees should be covered in the Franciscan monastery and other churches. A shirt covers the walk from a textile-optional cove back into town, and a light layer is enough for the ferry and a windy ridge. Heavy suiting and formal heels suit the ground badly; the island is informal.

What to eat

Plan it

Best time. Summer is high season on Vis: more boats from Split, swimming weather, and the popular bays at their busiest. The shoulder of the season, either side of that peak, is the calmer time for the same coves. In the cold months many kitchens close and the island goes quiet.

How long. three to four

Getting there. Vis has no airport. Ferries and catamarans sail from Split and arrive at the port in the centre of Vis town, on the eastern side of the island. The ferry takes a little over two hours and the catamaran closer to an hour and a half; frequency and fares change with the season, so check the operator. Another catamaran calls on some weekdays. Buses and hired cars link the port with Komiža and the coves over the ridge.

Budget. mid

Tips

Etiquette

Nearby

Sources