Primosten

Primošten is a small town on the Adriatic coast in Šibenik-Knin County, occupying a peninsula that sits roughly midway between Šibenik and Trogir, about 28 kilometers south of Šibenik. Until the 16th century the settlement was not connected to the mainland: it began on a small islet then known as Gola Glava (also recorded under the name Capocesto, "naked head"), where people from the nearby villages of Prhova, Široka and Kruševo took refuge from Ottoman raids from the 15th century onward. During the Ottoman incursions of 1542, the islet was defended with walls, towers and a drawbridge. Once the danger passed, the drawbridge was replaced with a permanent causeway, and in 1564 the settlement took the name Primošten, from the Croatian verb primostiti, "to bridge over." The two defensive towers and the surrounding walls stood until they were demolished at the end of the 19th century.

At the top of the old peninsula stands the parish Church of St. George, built in 1485 and thoroughly reconstructed in 1760. It stands beside the town's old graveyard and holds an icon of Our Lady of Loreto set in a silver frame; from the terrace around the church there is an open view over the sea and the surrounding islands.

The hills behind the town are terraced with vineyards of Babić, a red grape variety native to this part of the coast, grown on narrow dry-stone terraces cut into the karst. A photograph of these vineyards has been displayed in the lobby of the United Nations headquarters in New York, and the vineyards have at times been discussed as a possible candidate for UNESCO World Heritage recognition, though no such listing has gone through.

The town's main beach, Raduča, runs along the shore close to the old town, and its smaller section, Mala Raduča, has repeatedly been ranked among the ten most beautiful beaches in Croatia in domestic travel polls. Boats moor at Marina Kremik, just south of the town center; many gulet cruises from Sibenik call in here on routes that continue toward the Kornati islands or Trogir.

Each summer the town holds the Primoštenske užance folklore festival and a traditional donkey race. According to the 2021 census, the municipality, which covers seven settlements, had 2,627 residents, with 1,555 of them living in the town of Primošten itself.