Page 33 - Kvarner_galeb_EN.indd

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behind the houses located the highest up you can
see a well-marked climbing route, perhaps
mountaineering itinerary, leading to the steep
nearby peak. Nice view!
Thus, circumstances permitting, if there is a
strong bora, better to drop anchor and swim at the
beaches mentioned or, if it is too cold, for the bora
is still strengthening, then to return to the security
of Punat. Only greenhorn sailors are going to try
to prove their courage by braving the bora.
And anyway, if you haven't yet visited Košljun, you
won't have any more excuses. For Košljun is really
worth a visit. Although the purpose of this guide is
not to tell sailors about the cultural treasures of
the Kvarner archipelago, the unusual features
and sheer persistence of this island deserve
mentioning even on this occasion.
According to vernacular tradition, as far as the sea
stretches into Puntarska Draga, it was all once
fertile fields. The owners of the fields were
brothers, but one of them, the younger, was blind.
In autumn, sharing out the profits of their
laborious work, the elder brother cheated the
younger. As in some tale by the brothers Grimm,
wanting to right this wrong, the sky grew wrath
and decided to inflict an awful punishment on the
older brother. The sea surged into Draga, drowned
the elder brother and overwhelmed their land.
Only the blind, younger brother was saved, on a
hill. Today this eminence, having endured for
centuries (in part because of its clear conscience),
surrounded by the sea, is called Košljun.
Košljun keeps stone capitals of the 8 century. In
the 12 century a Benedictine monastery was
founded here. In the 15 , the island was taken over
by the Franciscans. The Franciscan Church of the
Annunciation was built in 1523. The monastery
has its records and a library with incunabula; for
sailors, the copy of the Ptolemaic atlas printed in
Venice between 1563 and 1570 would be most
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Košljun
Stara Baška