Turanj

Turanj follows roughly four kilometres of the Pašman Channel coast, between Sveti Filip i Jakov and Sveti Petar na Moru. Its compact historic core still reflects the defensive towers that gave the village its name, derived from the recorded Latin form Toretta. The parish church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was built in 1707, after the immediate Ottoman threat had receded, on the site of an earlier church dedicated to St Michael. From the waterfront, the view opens across a cluster of sixteen small islands, including the unmistakably heart-shaped Galešnjak. Turanj also includes Babac, the channel’s only permanently inhabited island, where the Church of St Andrew dates from the thirteenth or fourteenth century. The seaside route continues naturally towards Sveti Filip i Jakov, while swimming spots line both the old centre and the coast farther south. Direct buses using the Adriatic Highway connect Turanj with Zadar and Biograd na Moru, making the village a convenient base for beach days and excursions to Pašman or Lake Vrana.

Turanj belongs to the municipality of Sveti Filip i Jakov, yet its character is shaped above all by the Pašman Channel and the islets scattered just offshore. The old settlement grew around defensive towers, reflected in the historic name Toretta. Directly across the water lies Babac, the only permanently inhabited island in this part of the channel, while heart-shaped Galešnjak is the best-known landmark in Turanj’s small archipelago. Four kilometres of shoreline link the historic centre, local swimming areas and newer apartment neighbourhoods into one long seafront village.