Zlarin

Zlarin lies in the Sibenik channel and its trade was red coral, harvested by divers from the seabed around the islands and worked into jewellery in the village - a craft that supported the island for generations and that a small museum and the remaining workshops still represent, though the coral beds are long depleted and protected. In 2019 the island declared itself free of single-use plastic, the first community in Croatia to do so, with shops and bars switching away from disposable cups and bottles and a scheme for visitors. There are no cars, the village runs along the harbour, and the paths inland go through pine and old olive terraces.

History

Two stone axes show people on Zlarin in the Stone Age, and early in the Bronze Age, in the third millennium BC, Illyrians built hillforts on its summits to watch over their herds and the sea. With little farmland the island was thinly settled in antiquity until the Romans brought olives and vines, and fishing and salt-making grew; graves with stamped amphorae, a Roman headstone built into the wall of the Drago castle and the wreck of a 1st-century AD merchant ship in Platac bay remain from that time. The island is first named in 1245, as part of Šibenik's territory, in a charter of Béla IV, and the origin of the name is argued over, from a Phoenician word to Juraj Šižgorić's "golden island" to a field called Zlarin on the Neretva brought here by Narentine seafarers. Notarial records of 1386 give the first surnames of Zlarin's vineyard owners and mention the church of St Mary, built by the priest Juraj on late antique foundations; the island's population grew when the first Ottoman raids reached the Šibenik area (Wikipedia, Zlarin).

Highlights

• The coral island - the harvesting and working trade that built it.
• First plastic-free community in Croatia - declared in 2019.
• No cars - the village and paths are walked.
• Pine and olive terraces - the interior behind the harbour.

When to go

June to September, when the boats run frequently. Half a day.

Practical notes

Coral is no longer harvested and what is sold is largely old stock or imported, which is worth asking about. Boat schedules thin out sharply off season. Services are a handful of places on the harbour. Beaches are shingle and rock.

Nearby

Prvic is the next island; Sibenik is twenty minutes by boat.

Key facts