The sunset view
Over the bay and town, the best thing about the site.
August Dominus — CC BY-SA 4.0 · August Dominus — CC BY-SA 4.0 · August Dominus — CC BY-SA 4.0 · August Dominus — CC BY-SA 4.0
A British fort on a hill commanding the entrance to Vis town harbour, and the clearest trace of an episode that surprises most visitors: **the British ruled Vis**. During the Napoleonic wars the Royal Navy needed a base in the central Adriatic to cut French and Italian shipping. It took Vis in **1811** after the naval **Battle of Lissa** fought off the island, and built a chain of fortifications on it — this fort among them, in **1813**, named after King **George III**. The British stayed until **1815**, and left more behind than forts: they introduced **cricket** to the island, and Vis still has a cricket club playing today — probably the oldest surviving British sporting legacy in the eastern Mediterranean. The fort today is restored and used as an events venue and summer bar, with its walls and courtyard open. Note: the view from it over the bay and town is its best feature, particularly at sunset. Note: **its hours are commercial and seasonal** — it may be closed outside summer.
Over the bay and town, the best thing about the site.
From 1813, the clearest trace of four years of British rule.
A club still playing on the island two centuries later.
The hill above Vis town harbour
Yes — the **Vis Cricket Club** is real, not a tourist joke. The British introduced the game while they held the island between **1811 and 1815**, and their officers played it on level ground near Vis town. It died out long after they left, then the club was **revived in 2002** on local initiative with British support, and today plays friendlies and hosts visiting sides. ⚠ The ground is in the middle of the island near **Plisko Polje**, the same agricultural plain used as an airstrip in the Second World War — so the same field has carried three functions, British, military and sporting. ⚠ Matches are irregular; ask locally if you happen to be there in season.
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