Drage is a place of many pebble, stone beaches and coves suitable for families with children. In the past a farming and fishing village, now a modern tourist destination with numerous campsites, restaurants and private accommodation.
The Draga decoration is the Čelinka lookout point, which offers a magnificent view of the sea and Vrana Lake, the islands of Vrgada and Pakoštane, and the Kornati National Park.
Drage is a tourist place near Pakostane. It is located halfway between Zadar and Šibenik. Drage is a peaceful and quiet Dalmatian place and at first glance conquers with the naturalness of the ambience. The indented coast with numerous bays and pebble beaches provide favorable conditions for tourism development.
According to available historical sources, it is possible to state that Drage was founded at the turn of the XVIII. in the 19th century, and certainly before the 1930s. Namely, at that time the cadastral maps of our area were prepared and completed in 1840. and on them are Drages inscribed. Also, according to official statistics, it is known that Drage in 1857. were covered by the census. On the other hand, according to Grimani's maps, which were published in the first half of the 18th century. there are certain estates in the area of Draga, however, they have not been assigned the attribute of a settlement. Therefore, it is realistic to conclude that Drage was founded around 1800.
Drage was inhabited in prehistory, as evidenced by the remains of the Liburnian settlement on the hill Celinka above the present place (from the Iron Age). In the area of Draga there are the remains of two more Liburnian forts which are located on the tops of Vela and Mala Kurela. However, they were not used for housing, but had a defensive purpose. The continuity of the population can be traced back to antiquity. This can be concluded on the basis of findings from that period. There is a find (discovered in 1954) with several graves. A fibula was found in a grave next to the skeleton. The fibula or tie ends with a horse's head. Throughout the Old Croatian period, we do not find archaeological evidence that there were settlements in the area of Draga. There is a certain possibility that some of the settlements that belonged to the Zablat sub-county (Sidrage County) were in the area of today's settlement, namely Pilatova Draga and Gladuša (mentioned in a document dated 15 December 1521). However, this cannot be claimed.
Today, Drage is intensively developing and becoming an increasingly important tourist destination. While in the past the Dragars were mostly engaged in agriculture, animal husbandry and fishing, today the catering and handicrafts predominate. Given the significant investments and improvement of communal infrastructure, Drage is increasingly raising the level of urbanization and thus becoming an environment for comfortable living. Finally, in this Dalmatian town there is a strong awareness of the preservation of tangible and intangible cultural heritage and traditional values.
Pakostane is a small Dalmatian town located in the center of the Adriatic coast and a unique position between the sea and Lake Vrana. Four national parks (Kornati, Krka, Paklenica and Plitvice Lakes) and two nature parks (Telašćica and Vrana Lake) of unique beauty surround Pakoštane.
Already in the Stone Age, there were human settlements in this area, and from the Bronze Age, several war axes were found, as well as Gradine in the area of Pakoštane from the time of Liburnia. During Roman times, the area of the town was the port of the Roman city of Asseriae (Podgrađe near Benkovac). The beginning of today's village belongs to the first decade of the 15th century.
Historical sources mention the place as early as the first decade of the 15th century. During the Croatian-Hungarian kings, the place was called Pakosene. God. In 1500, documents were written by Pachoschiane, Pacoschane, and the islanders called it Pakošćane (Chakavian pronunciation).
In Roman times, the port of the Roman city of Asseriae (Suburbs) was located on the site of today's Pakoštane. Even today, the remains of an ancient settlement and the villa of rich patricians can be seen. Parts of the Roman villa rusticae were excavated under the local cemetery by the sea, and the remains of a Roman breakwater below the port. During the Venetian rule, Pakoštane was the fief of the Karnarutić family from Zadar. While they were the owners of the place and its lands, the village was fortified, fortified in 1597, as were other places from Bibinje to Biograd.
The people of Pakostane were often killed for burglary and looting of Turkish enslavers. Thus, as early as 1500. The Turks captured and took away three thousand people and several thousand head of cattle in Vrana and its surroundings. Only a dozen families remain in Pakostane, without a church and a pastor. The place became somewhat fortified with defensive walls and in order to resist the Turks, able to fight, they remained in the place 'behind the walls. He soon broke in with five hundred cavalry, and the inhabitants moved to the islands. God. 1603. Visitor Priuli finds neither a church nor a parish priest in Pakoštane, but only ten families. In the 16th century the village was fortified by a defensive wall. And in order to resist the Turks, those capable of fighting remained in place, "behind the walls." Thus, during the Candian War (1645-1669) between the Turks and the Venetians, the heroes of Pakostane stood out, Bare Bačkov, who died on March 13, and Šime Bakija, to whom Fr. Andrija Kačić Miošić sang in the parish of Godar:
"The village of Pakošćane is proud because it gave birth to a dragon with two heads. Bakija was shouting at home, stiff Turkish heads were being cut off. There would be no battle or battle without Bakija, a strong hero;
Today you can see the remains of an ancient settlement and villas of rich patricians, and in the sea the remains of a Roman breakwater. The municipality of Pakoštane includes some other places of great historical importance, such as the island of Vrgada, which is described and mentioned in his works by the Byzantine emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus. It is also important to mention the place of Vrana, which played a key role in Croatian history. Namely, there was a fortress and a monastery (Benedictine monastery in Vrana) of the Knights Templar, ie the old town of Vrana (10th - 16th century), and also in Vrana was the Vrana prior who played a major role in Croatia and Croatia. - To the Kingdom of Hungary. We must also mention the Turkish Han as one of the best preserved Turkish camps.
From the earliest times, the Vrana basin has been recognized as a valuable Mediterranean locality which, with its economic significance and beauty and abundance of drinking water, has always attracted the attention of landowners and their desire to settle there. Archaeological remains at the 'Crkvine' site, the Pećina spring, and other places on the outskirts of Vrana mud speak of several Roman agricultural estates 'Vile rustice'. Fragments of Roman inscriptions built into Maškovića Han and others found on the route of the Roman aqueduct confirm the great economic activity of the Empire in this area.
Zadar is the city and center of Zadar County and the wider regional complex of northern Dalmatia and Lika, within the European NUTS 2 region of Adriatic Croatia. According to the number of inhabitants, it is the second city in Dalmatia, and the fifth in the Republic of Croatia. The inner city has about 80,000 inhabitants, while the urban area of Zadar has about 118,000 inhabitants.
It lies on the coast of the northwestern part of Ravni kotari, 229 km southeast of Rijeka, 79 km northwest of Šibenik and 156 km from Split. It is gravitated by the Zadar archipelago, the Zadar-Biograd coast, Ravni kotari and Bukovica, and the area that reaches Pag, the Knin region and southern Lika. Zadar is located on a peninsula that closes the city's passenger port and the bay of Jazine with the mainland. The old town center in the northwestern part of the peninsula was separated from the rest of the peninsula by a dug ditch (buried at the end of the 19th century), the rest of which is the small port of Foša.
The city is well connected by traffic. It is connected with the Zadar islands, Pag, Lošinj, Pula and the Italian port of Ancona by ferry and boat connections from the City Passenger and Passenger-Cargo Port in Gaženica, and with the coast and inland by land connections (Adriatic Highway, Zadar-Knin railway since 1966, highway to Zagreb, Split and Ploče since 2005). There is a yacht marina in the town. The airport is located 8 km east of the city.
Demographically and spatially, it is one of the fastest growing cities in Croatia, especially since the middle of the 20th century. 16 969 century 1900. After a period of stagnation in the period between the two world wars and a slight decline during the II. World War II (16 019 century 1948), the population increased sharply in the second half of the XX century. In 1953, the city had a population of 18,243, and in the next thirty years the number of inhabitants increased more than three times (63,364 in 1981). The increase in population continued after that (76,343 people lived in the town in 1991, and 69,556 in 2001). In the second half of the twentieth century, the Italian community lost its social importance; the number of Italians decreased from 2208 (1948) to 1219 (1953) and to 64 (1961). In 2011, 90 of them were listed in the City of Zadar.
Industrial production was significantly reduced compared to the period before the Homeland War, when the city developed food (juice and liqueur industry, canning fish, soybeans), textile, metal (machine tools) and chemical (plastics) industry and electrical industry and production precision mechanics. It is the seat of the shipping company Tankerska plovidba. The strong development of tourism (cultural, bathing, manifestation, etc.) in the last twenty years has been encouraged by the improvement of communal, tourist and transport infrastructure, especially connecting Zadar with Zagreb and Split and the introduction of low-cost airlines connecting it with many European cities.
Biograd, a town and port in northern Dalmatia, is located 28 km south of Zadar. It is located on a small peninsula and the mainland. On its northern side is the bay Bošana and on the southern Soline. In front of the town are the islands of Planac and Sv. Katarina (with lighthouse).
Biograd na Moru is a Croatian royal city that was first mentioned in the middle of the 10th century, while in the 11th century. century was the seat of Croatian kings and bishops. Biograd experienced its greatest prosperity as the capital of medieval Croatian rulers, and in 1102 the Croatian-Hungarian king Koloman was crowned there.
In 1202, Biograd was a refuge for fugitives from Zadar (→ Crusade of Zadar), and is also called Zara vecchia. During the 13th and 14th centuries, the town was ruled by the Cetina princes, the Vrana Templars and the Bribir princes Šubići.
From 1409 to 1797 it was ruled by Venice. He was killed in the Venetian-Turkish wars, and in 1521 and 1646 he was destroyed and set on fire. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Biograd was the center of the Croatian People's Army, which played a major role in the anti-Turkish wars. Due to the sufferings of the war, its importance declined, only to strengthen again at the beginning of the 19th century, when during French rule it gained a municipality and a court.
The tourist development of Biograd began between the two world wars. The first guests, Czechs, began coming to Biograd during the 1920s. The first hotel was built in 1935 on the site of today's Hotel Ilirija.
During the Serbian aggression, the city suffered great destruction with long-range artillery because rebel Serbs tried to capture it. On June 14, 1993, they attacked the city with a Orkan rocket-propelled grenade launcher. So called. "Bells" on the beach Soline killed 5 people: Lidija Vrankulj (exile from Polača), Danijela Vidaković and Marijan Pulić, Jozo Tomić and Karlo Paić, who were members of the Special Forces of the HV General Staff. Another 7 people were seriously injured. [1] To date, no one has been held accountable for this war crime. A new heavy artillery attack occurred on 30 June.
The city won a silver medal and the prestigious Silver Flower of Europe Award in 2007, for horticultural and urban landscaping.
The Kornati or Kornati archipelago is an archipelago located in northern Dalmatia, west of Šibenik and south of Zadar, within the Šibenik-Knin County. The archipelago consists of about 150 islets covering an area of 320 km2 and is the most indented island ecosystem in the Adriatic Sea.
In 1980, most of the Kornati archipelago was declared a Kornati National Park. The total area of the park is about 220 km2, and it consists of 89 [1] islands, islets and reefs. Of the park’s area, only about 1/4 is land, while the rest is marine ecosystem.
Kornat, with an area of 32.44 km2, [2] is the largest island in this archipelago and occupies two thirds of the National Park. The island is 25.2 km long and up to 2.5 km wide.
The archipelago has no permanent settlements.
Vrana Lake or Vrana in northern Dalmatia, a lake and cryptodepression northeast of Pakostane. It is the largest lake in Croatia.
According to the Decision of the Government of the Republic of Croatia on the inventory of first-order waters, Lake Vrana is classified as a natural lake.
13.6 km long, 2.2 km wide on average, 3.9 m deep, covering 30.16 km². It gets its water from several springs and streams of Skorobić, and flows away through abysses and the artificial canal Prosik, which connects it with the Pirovac Bay. Its water level during the year fluctuates on average 0.95 m, maximum 2 m. The lake is actually a karst field filled with water.
There is a fish farm on the lake, and the lake is also used for fishing.
It belongs to the Vrana Lake Nature Park.
