Vodice for us was not just any town along the coast. It is the home town of our good friends Ana and Tomislav and their families. We stayed there on and off between August 23 and October 24, experiencing it as a bustling tourist town and as a small local coastal town, where its citizens live as a tightly through the off season months. Vodice has during peak season more than 40000 inhabitants. Once the locals are among themselves you will find hardy 10000 inhabitants. In summer all sorts of tourist activities are on the agenda. Off season, fishing, everything around boats, olive oil and wine making and similar stuff take priority.
We have seen many different things in the two months in Vodice and its surroundings, experienced the heat of the summer as well as the coldness and dampness of the autumn storms. We met many nice and interesting people and some special characters, all us. We want to thank all of them, giving us memories in this special episode in our lives. Above all we are very grateful and thankful to Ana and Tomislav, who have from far away Bangkok, with their connections and recommendations,
We have summarised our Vodice impressions in separate small tales below and gave them a number, which you will find back with the corresponding pictures attached to this blog entry. Enjoy our various stories in this special place. This Short Story is a bit long, but eh, we have so much to tell you !!!
Vodice was first mentioned in 1402, although it was founded already in Roman times as Arausa. Its name derives from the word water sources, because the ground is full of natural underwater canals, which spread over the whole area. Voda is the Croatian name for water. The Roman legions used these sources to supply their troops and fortifications. During the time of the Venicean Republic (1412 to 1797), Vodice was part of the defense line against the Turks. The Coric tower being one of the symbols of these past times. In 1746 the parish church in the town center was built, which is still frequented by worshippers today. Several kilometers north of todays Vodice lie the origins of the old Vodice. Before the tourism started in 1965, many citizens had no interest to live
next to the sea, but rather inland. They tried to make a living from the rocky ground, never really having enough food for themselves. Migration was a of After 1965 slowly the locals developed the touristic activities and moved towards the coast. With its pebble and sandy beaches, Vodice is a popular tourist destination in Croatia today, where most of the population is oriented towards tourism and providing for visitors in hotels, apartments and houses. Many bars and restaurants give sun lovers opportunities. The original Vodice lies abandoned surrounded by bush and plantations. (more pictures under #1)
5 km to the North along the coast lies Tribunj, a much smaller, very charming village, with marina, old town, numerous excellent restaurants, cute bars and little churches, or rather chapels. Nenad loves this typical catholic characteristic, where churches and pubs are so closely interknitted. As so often, neighboring towns develop a love hate relationship. Not different here. It is amusing to speak to locals about the other town. Of course everything is better in his town, but if you ask him about the one or the other restaurant
in in the neighboring village, they know them all, and one finds out, that there is a very frequent mutual visiting habit. Ironically Tribunj belonged until 2006 to the municipality of Vodice, before it became independent. Every summer Tribunj holds a donkey race, where locals and tourists can participate as riders. The donkey by the way, is a legendary animal in Dalmatia, with a million and one stories surrounding it. In was first mentioned in historic scripts 1214 in the city of Korcula (island near Dubrovnik) .
