3 Best Sights in Pag Island, Northern Dalmatia

This three-nave basilica's simple front is decorated with a Gothic portal, an appropriately lacelike Renaissance rosette, and unfinished figures of saints. A relief over the entrance depicts the Virgin Mary protecting the townsfolk of Pag. Begun in 1466 under Dalmatinac's direction, it was completed only decades after his death. Inside, note the elaborate 18th-century Baroque altars and the wood beams visible on the original stone walls. The church is open daily from 9 until noon and from 5 until 7 in the evening.

Across the square is the imposing Knežev dvor, with its magnificent richly detailed portal, a grand 15th-century edifice built to house the duke. Until the early 1990s, it housed a grocery store and a café; now it is a cultural and exhibition venue, hosting concerts, plays, and manifestations during the summer months. The upper floors have been converted into the City Hall.

A mere 20-minute walk south of the present town center lies the ruins of the previous 9th-century town. You can wander around for free, taking in the Romanesque-style Crkva sveta Marija (St. Mary's Church), first mentioned in historical records in 1192; the ruins of a Franciscan monastery; and a legendary centuries-old well whose filling up with water after a drought was credited to the intervention of the Holy Virgin. On August 15, a procession of locals carries a statue of the Virgin Mary from here to the church on present-day Pag's main square. On September 8, they return. To get to Stari Grad, walk across the bridge and keep left on Put Starog Grada, the road that runs south along the bay.