The shallows
Tens of metres out with water at your waist.
Airin — CC BY-SA 1.0 · dronepicr — CC BY 2.0 · Jules Verne Times Two — CC BY-SA 4.0 · dronepicr — CC BY 2.0
A game that started in Split at the beginning of the twentieth century on this very beach: five players standing in knee-deep water pass a very small ball by striking it with an open palm, the object being that it never touches the water — no teams, no points, no winning. The value is in skill and display. It is played in Split all year, including on New Year's Day as a local tradition, and is listed as Croatian intangible cultural heritage.
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Bačvice is Split's central beach, ten minutes' walk from Diocletian's Palace — and one of the few genuinely sandy beaches on the rocky Dalmatian coast, which alone explains its popularity. The water is very shallow for a long way out: you can walk tens of metres into the sea with the water at your waist. That makes it the first choice for families with small children, and it also makes it the stage for a local game called picigin — a small ball kept off the water by players standing in the shallows and striking it with an open hand, an authentically Split sport with real championships. The beach is urban rather than resort: cafes and bars along its length run late, and it is genuinely crowded in July and August. Anyone wanting a quiet swim goes in the morning, or heads to Bene beach in the Marjan park, further out but calmer and shadier.
Tens of metres out with water at your waist.
An authentically Split game played in the shallows.
Bacvice, 21000 Split