August the 21st, 2024 – Have you ever heard of Fratarski Otok? This Croatian island draws its name from monks and friars, and very few tourists from outside the country ever go to it.
There are endless arguments about how many islands Croatia actually boasts. Some are islets, some are islands, many are inhabited, many aren’t. There are well over 1,000 of them, and it’s mainly those in central and southern Dalmatia that get all the press and international accolades. Rightly so. Nobody is ever going to try and deny Hvar’s stunning beauty, but it hasn’t gained the title of “Croatia’s premier island” without some immense losses to poor tourist behaviour, drunkenness, loud clubs and smaller-scale political scandals.
The same can be said for the gorgeous, much less busy Elaphite islands which lie just northwest of bustling Dubrovnik. A huge lure for tourists seeking to escape the intense heat and hustle and bustle of the Pearl of the Adriatic each summer, these islands provide a glimpse into the Dalmatia of the past, long before tourism and greed took a large chunk of its soul. Quaint fishing villages made up of a few ancient stone houses, rocky bays lapped by the gentle waves of the azure Adriatic Sea and traditional konobas (taverns) don’t have to work hard to win over the hearts of all those who visit. Throw the beautiful car-free island of Lopud into it, and you’ve got a winning combination.
Still, as spectacular as all of these islands are, they’re well known, well-visited, and hardly some sort of best kept secret. The same can’t be said for the somewhat mysterious Fratarski Otok, a Croatian island up in Istria.
“We don’t want tourists, we don’t want electricity, we don’t need anything” say many of those in the know when talking about this little heard of, let alone visited, Croatian island not too far from Pula.
As Morski writes, you won’t often catch any of Pula’s residents discussing Fratarki Otok, as the less is known about this odd yet idyllic Croatian island the better, at least according to them. This is solely because they are afraid of losing their own little timeless oasis in the same way so many other Croatian islands have been “lost” since the country became a hit tourist destination. There’s no electricity on Fratarski Otok. Nor is there any notion of hot water, store or campsite on the island. Regardless, Pula residents say they have everything they need there already, and they don’t need a single addition.
We’re living in the age of mass tourism and international headlines spotlighting Croatian destinations up and down the country. For better or worse, that has equalised almost every single precious region of the Adriatic coast being commercialised. Despite that, there are still parts of this dazzling country that remain undiscovered by tourists, and islands that are home to nobody but snakes, lizards and crickets.
Everyone who goes to Fratarski Otok knows each other. Most go there year after year, summer after summer. Basking under the scorching Croatian sun on the hot rocks, before cooling off in the crystal clear sea that laps against them. The people of Pula will spend around three months there – until the tourists leave their town. They maintain this Croatian island, which they sometimes describe as “little Yugoslavia” with a dose of questionable political nostalgia, as their own secret.
A special report about Fratarki Otok, a remarkable Croatian island, was made by Vida TV, which you can watch below:
