Airport and transport – daily ferry and catamaran lines to Split (15 km); airport (from the port of Split 25 km).
History – archaeological finds from the earlier Stone Age; inhabited from the Illyric times; the island was first mentioned in 4th century BC under the name of Olyntha; in Roman era used as a supply station for passing ships; in the middle Ages (Nečujam) was famous of salt-pans.
Interesting to see: St. Stephen’s Church (in Grohote, breathtaking interior decorations); the basis of the Early Christian basilica of St. Stephen (6th-7th century; in Grohote; near the parish church); the ruins of a fortification with two towers (dating the old antiquity; in Gornje Selo); remains of two villae rusticae (with bathroom in Rogač and in Gradac with walls from antiquity); remains of an old Christian church with monastery (5th-6th century); prehistoric hill-fort (in Gradac); the castle of the Marchi family (1706; in Maslinica).
Info – there are 4 ports and 24 bays on the island; gravel and sand beaches; coastline 73.1 km; population of 1 479; the highest peak is Vela Straža, 237 m; in 3rd century the Roman Emperor Diocletian (ruled Rome from 284 to 305; withdrew from politics in 305 to Diocletian’s Palace in Split) built his fishery in Nečujam; there are 299 registered species of higher plants, 105 species of birds from 33 families (17 registered that weren’t seen on the island of Brač); Šolta’s honey made of self-grown rosemary is one of the most famous in Europe (already in 1877 won medals on an exhibition in Paris, and afterwards regularly when present on international exhibitions).
Inevitable to taste: Šolta’s honey made of self-grown rosemary (from 1877 win medals on international exhibitions), local wine (from unique grapevine cultivar grown only on Šolta) and olive oil.
Good to know: in the time of French rule (in Dalmatia) a special commission declared Šolta’s honey the best in the whole Europe; to make sure that island greet its guests as beautiful as possible, tourist community (every summer season) organizes a contest for the best decorated and arranged apartment, house lot and a village (the best get diplomas); in the past the boats of the Greeks, Italians and Spaniards (who sailed in the Adriatic towards the East) would stop by the coast and take fish from the nets and fish traps, in empty nets and fish traps they would put money in bags and put them back in the sea; in the graveyard (in Gornje Selo) there is a grave with an inscription FOR TRAVELERS, made for every unknown traveler who dies on the island.
For sailors: http://free-st.htnet.hr/Grabule/za_nauticare.htm