The Roman theatre
Its curve legible in the walls of the monastery built over it.
Minestrone — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Falk2 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Falk2 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Falk2 — CC BY-SA 4.0
The harbour town on the north-eastern coast, and **the oldest Greek settlement in Croatia**. Colonists from **Syracuse** founded it in **397 BC** as **Issa**, the first city-state on this coast: it struck its own coinage and established daughter colonies on the mainland, among them **Tragurion** — today''s Trogir — and **Salona**. Split, in its origins, was a colony subordinate to Vis. Remains of Issa are still in the town: wall footings, a Greek cemetery, and a **Roman theatre** over which a Franciscan monastery was later built, preserving its curve in the walls. The town today is a low strip of stone houses around a wide bay, with no towers and no rebuilt waterfront — the legacy of forty years of military closure. Note: do not confuse **Vis town** with **the island**: the island is a separate entity, and its second town, Komiža, lies on the far side of the mountain. Note: eating here revolves around **anchovy flatbread (pogača)** and the local catch.
Its curve legible in the walls of the monastery built over it.
Wall footings and a Greek cemetery inside the town.
Stone houses and no towers — the mark of forty closed years.
Vis town, north-eastern coast of the island
After **Tito''s split with Stalin** in 1948 Yugoslavia expected a Soviet invasion, and turned Vis into a **closed military base** because of its forward position in the Adriatic. Foreigners were barred from the island entirely between **1950 and 1989**, tunnels, bunkers and gun positions were cut into it, and even its own residents needed permits. The effect was twofold: **economically** the island lost forty years of development and many of its people emigrated; **physically** it escaped the wave of tourist construction that changed Hvar and Brač — no concrete towers, no rebuilt waterfronts. ⚠ That is why Vis is described as **preserved by neglect**. ⚠ The military tunnels are visited today on tours, some open freely and some only with a guide.
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