Betina

Betina on Murter has built wooden boats for well over two centuries, and the yards on the harbour are still working - the local type is the gajeta, a small sailing and rowing boat used for fishing and for reaching the Kornati islands, built without formal plans by shipwrights working from proportion and experience. The Betina Museum of Wooden Shipbuilding, opened in 2015, sets out the craft with tools, half-models and film of the yards, and it won a European museum award commendation for the way it documents a living trade rather than a closed one. The village behind is stone lanes on a slope above the water.

History

Murter, Betina's island, was first recorded under the Croatian name Srimač, as part of Šibenik's territory in a deed issued by King Béla in 1251; the name Murter appears from 1443 and Srimač stayed in use until 1740. In Roman times a town called Colentum stood on the island at today's Gradina. Betina itself is first mentioned in 1423, when 15 people lived there in 8 houses, which points to an earlier origin; there were 16 houses in 1597, and by 1678 there were 350 people in 52 families. Much of the growth came from the mainland: from the middle of the 16th century people from Vrana settled in Betina, especially after 1573, when Vrana fell to the Ottomans. The church was built in the 16th century, and a Franciscan monastery stood on the nearby islet of Sustipanac (Wikipedia, Betina).

The main sights

• Working wooden boatyards - still building on the harbour.
• The gajeta - the local type, built by eye rather than plan.
• A museum of the craft - opened 2015, documenting a living trade.
• Stone lanes above the water - the village behind the yards.

When to go

May to September. Half a day.

Things to know

The yards are businesses, not exhibits - watching means keeping out of the way. The museum is small. The village is busy in high summer with Kornati boat traffic. Parking near the harbour is difficult.

Nearby

Murter town is next; the Kornati islands are offshore west.

Key facts