The Okrug Riviera is woven from seductive islets with hidden and protected coves such as Duga, Duboka and Široka, Kancelirovac and Racetinovac, and low enticing beaches: such as Mavarčica, Toć, Tatinja, Kava and Rudej or Stari Porat on the western outline of the island towards which the trail starts, leading you through fantastic landscapes that reveal the tranquillity of this Mediterranean oasis in the central Adriatic. Although small in surface area, Čiovo is an island with an interesting past. Inhabited as far back as prehistoric times, during the Roman era it was used to house exiles, and then, apart from hermits, there were no residents on it until the invasion of the Ottoman Empire. The Venetian government allowed settlement on the island in 1451, and the settlement of Okrug was mentioned for the first time in 1461. This being said, its beginning is connected with St. Theodore’s church, that is, Tudor, the patron saint of the municipality, who was credited with healing powers.
It is also believed that the islet of Kraljevac on the southern side of Čiovo gave refuge to King Bela IV in flight from the Tatars in 1242 and that it was named after him, while the nearby island of St. Eufemia, named after the late antique church, next to which was a set of outbuildings belonging to the Trogir Benedictines. While you are surrounded by the scents of the sea and the colours of tradition, along with the stories about hermits and nobles, every time your ride on the Okrug trails will turn into a new discovery and the pleasure of exploring.