Vrboska

One of the many merits of Vrboska, a village of 500 souls, is that it would take less effort to mark the accommodation without a sea view than the accommodation with one: the village extends in a narrow strip around an inlet of the sea, so that no matter where you happen to be, you can always reach the beach in just a few minutes - and beyond it, for several bridges connect the town's two shores. The townscape is shaped by the fortress church, the harbour works from the year 1468 and Gothic houses. On the façades of the latter you can still see traces of fire which, exceptionally, do not date from the Turkish attacks of 1571. For fully 60 years earlier the inhabitants set fire to their own town in a popular uprising. A monument to the liberation fighters of that time has been erected on the island in the centre of the town.

As grey and stoic as the Renaissance building above the town looks from outside, so it looks from inside too: minimalistically plain in its furnishings, clear lines and no superfluous detail to distract from the purpose - protection and devotion. For an obolus of one euro you are led up the tower and can let your gaze wander over town, harbour, sea and a good part of the island.

It is not only believers who are drawn daily at half past ten in the morning to the parish church of Sveti Lovro: the 150-year-old organ delights every ear with its rich sound, and many a curator envies the church its art collection - the most valuable on the island. Apart from old handicraft and wrought ironwork, numerous paintings from recent decades and the works of famous old masters, it is above all the triptych on the theme of Saint Lawrence that is worth seeing. Experts are still arguing over whether it was created by Titian or Veronese, but they agree that - whoever it was - they were going through a particularly good phase.

From 9:30 to 12 and from 18 to 21 you can inform yourself in the fishing museum about the tools, methods and history of fishing in Vrboska. The village's speciality is, quite rightly, the tasty salted fish, a delicacy that was once exported as far as Venice and Padua. By means of a fisherman's kitchen, nets, lamps and catch baskets, life with this strenuous and dangerous profession is illustrated in an easily comprehensible way.