Sinj

Sinj is an inland town in the Dalmatian hinterland, on the edge of the karst field of Sinjsko Polje, and it is the centre of the Cetina region behind the coast. The town sits under a hilltop fortress, and its identity is bound up with the Sinjska Alka, a knightly tournament held each August that commemorates a 1715 victory over the Ottomans.

The Alka is a tilting contest in which riders, the alkari, gallop at full tilt and try to thread a lance through a small iron ring, the alka, suspended above the course. The ring gets smaller as the contest goes on, and the event, with its 18th-century costume and its strict local rules, is recognised by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage. The Alka museum in the town square explains it.

Sinj holds a Franciscan monastery with a pilgrimage church of Our Lady of Sinj, the focus of the annual procession, and the ruins of the old fortress above the town give a view over the field. The town is a useful inland base for rafting on the Cetina and for exploring the Dalmatian hinterland.

For photographers, the Alka (if you are there in August) and the fortress view are the shots. Pair Sinj with the Cetina gorge down to Omiš for a hinterland-and-canyon day.

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