3 Best Sights in Central Dalmatia, Croatia

Founded in 1475, the Dominican monastery on the western edge of Bol has beautiful gardens overlooking the sea. The monastery church is home to a valuable 16th-century painting by Tintoretto, and the small on-site museum displays ancient Greek coins and amphorae found on the nearby islands of Hvar and Vis. In addition to maintaining the museum and church, the monastery's priests actively study and carry out the Dominican mission throughout Croatia and Europe.

A short walk east of town, along the quay past the Arsenal, lies Hvar Town's Franciscan monastery. Within its walls, a pretty 15th-century Renaissance cloister leads to the former refectory, now housing a small museum with several notable artworks, including a beautiful fresco of the Last Supper. The grounds outside make a relaxing place for a stroll among centuries-old cypress trees.

Constructed as a place to worship the Roman god Jupiter under Emperor Diocletian's rule, the temple was later converted into a baptistery by Christians. The entrance is guarded by a black granite sphinx, one of several Diocletian brought to the palace from Egypt and the only one with its head intact. Many of the imported sphinxes (you can see another within the Baptistery) were damaged or destroyed as Christianity became the dominant religion. Inside, beneath the coffered barrel vault and ornamented cornice, the 11th-century baptismal font is adorned with a stone relief showing a medieval Croatian king on his throne. Directly behind it stands a bronze statue of St. John the Baptist, a work by Ivan Meštrović.