RAB

Is there anything more thrilling than to escape from the huge polluted urban areas into the simpleness, the natural purity and peacefulness of an island life, to inhale the rich scents of herbs of velvet-like feel and intensive colours, to enjoy the sea landscape and sky, in sandy bays, in the shade of pines giving off its scents.

When we say Rab, we have the whole island in mind, 93,6 km2 in size, with small places called Banjol, Barbat, Kampor, Lopar, Mundanije, Palit and Supetarska Draga, but the crown of them all is RAB, the most beautiful place the island was named after. This typically Mediterranean narrowly-built urban entity has reminded some literature aspiring writer of a big white ship anchored in harbour, a ship with four masts – four tall church-towers.

Rab is another word for mild climate and beautiful warm coves and bays. Its history tells us that, because of its attractiveness, Rab paid a high price not only in gold, but also in blood, and that its residents were enslaved for centuries. Its mild climate, its position in the lee and its lovely green surfaces have captured the eye of many sailors and conquerors, ending with the Romans who conquered the island and gave it its name – the municipium Arba. After them came the Ostrogoths, Byzantines and Slavs-Croats, who came to Adria in the 7th century AD and embraced its coast and islands as an inseparable part of their destiny and their homeland, by giving the ancient Arba the name Rab, a name closer to their language.

When one comes to Rab for the first time, as soon as he takes a look at old façades, roofs and towers, it immediately becomes clear that many centuries have left here a visible mark, primarily in the architecture of the old city centre, whose authentic beauty and ancient features have been completely preserved. There are squares with tall church towers, sacral buildings, the Duke's Palace, other palaces, Municipal Loggia and a great number of narrow Mediterranean streets, whose ancient walls echo with a multilingual hubbub, because the hosts of Rab have accepted the fact that their island does not belong to them only, and they have opened its harbours and the doors of their homes to all good-natured tourists, both from Croatia and abroad.