Mala banda, Vela banda, Jelsa

Jelsa is divided into two parts by a stream which carries rapid-flowing waters from the surrounding hills to the sea. ‘Vela banda’ and ‘Mala banda’ (‘Big Side’ and ‘Little Side’) are connected by a small stone bridge. ‘Mala banda’ was mainly the ‘fishing sector’ of Jelsa, although it also contained the imposing property owned by the patrician Duboković family, who had a valuable library and family archive. Jelsa’s oldest  civic buildings are in ‘Vela banda’; slightly uphill from the Pjaca or main square is Jelsa’s parish church, while further up on a slope called ‘Banski dolac’ is a part of Jelsa with old buildings and picturesque courtyards which used to house mainly peasant-farmers. Nowadays some of the houses have been transformed into restaurants and wine bars.