About the town of Vis*
Vis has always been a town and for a short period a state as well.
At the beginning of 19th century 12,000 people lived here from all over Europe. That influenced Vis’ language where you can find, besides the derivates of the Venetian dialect, English, French, German and even Hungarian words.
Compared to Hvar or Korčula, Vis faces the land and is open to everything coming from there. Its port even today offers shelter for many fishermen and seamen, lost researchers and other dejected adventurers.
That is how the Greeks from Syracuse found the port of Vis which reminded them of home.
Hvar poets created Kut (the Corner) as the sun caressed them from the west during the winter months.
In contrast, Vis land workers constructed Mola bonda e Mijurovac for the sun to wake them up from the east at dawn.
After Englishman fortified the hills around the bay, diligent Austrians raised the Batarija fortress to bond the town finally into one unit.
Today when, at the beginning of August, you drive on the road to Vis, it really looks like a metropolis. Its shiny illumination extends, like at Christmastime, from the waterfront around the entire bay over the decorated masts, to all the town suburbs, where the lantern on the islet of Host flashes to the north. To the west, like a suburb the Stonca bay illuminates the cove always full of fishermen’s boats and local sailing boats whilst to the east the Renaissance town of Kut appears. The peaceful idyll of Kut encounters the summer turbulence of the port in Our Lady’s Batarija. A concert currently takes place within the Austrian fortress, a little owl can be heard and under its walls, Spanish visitors are usually the loudest there. A number of people come out in front of the summer cinema once the animated film has just finished, and the feature film is about to begin. On the waterfront new elements and toys shine. There are lasers, led lamps and a variety of coloured stroboscopes. Under the stern of the mega yacht called Aikea Guinea, the arctic neon glares and under it the flathead mullet have party, the two of them together are really big catches. Even the saxophone can be heard around here, “Fly me to the moon” whilst in front of the bank a boat karaoke show is moored. A French band plays In Bejbi and under the reflectors over Issa’s necropolis, someone has scored a goal.
And everything brings back memories of the golden 1812 although at that period the economy was blossoming and nowadays we are dealing with a recession, but there again steam boats sailed into the port then and another illuminated “town” came to Vis.
