Podaca Croatia - Makarska riviera, Podaca holliday information

Podaca Croatia

Podaca is a small tourist resort situated in the south part of Makarska riviera, below Biokovo. It is about 35 km away from Makarska. This place is divided into 3 hamlets: Kapeć, Viskovića vala and Ravanje. The old place Podaca under the craggy grounds of Biokovo is almost completely abandoned.

Tourist offer
The population is primarily committed to tourism, but it is also engaged in fishery, agriculture and olive growing. Comfortable houses, villas and apartments, a few catering establishments are the basis of the tourist development of Podaca. The new place Podaca is situated halfway between Split and Dubrovnik and near to the ferry port Drvenik (4 km away) and Ploče (16 km away). From that place you can go to Biokovo by using the mountain tracks, whereas the promenade and 10 km long mountain cycle tracks take you to the foot of the mountain.

Other services in the place:
As far as the tourist attractions are concerned Podaca offers two long and beautiful pebbly beaches where you can hire pedal boats, boats, deck chairs, jet-ski etc. Catering establishments in Podaca and surrounding places offer a wide variety of home and traditional cooking as well as Dalmatian specialties. There is also a post office with the exchange office, a tourist office, shops, minimarkets, baker's, coffee bars, pizzerias, a beach bar, a kiosk, a bus station, a bowling court, beach volleyball ground etc.

History and the cultural sights
The history of Podaca goes back in the younger Stone Age as evidenced by the archeological finds like a stone maul (bat) for threshing corn, which is kept in the Franciscan monastery in Zaostrog.

Podaca beach

People have built a tower for the protection from the Turks on the hill in the old village under the mountain. Nearby is St. John's church on the graveyard. It was built by the nobles Kačići and it is one of the most significant monuments in this area from the 12th century. There is a memorial plaque next to the entrance into the church with the names of Kačići and there is a medieval standing tomb-stone - ridge (sljemenjak) nearby.

St. Stephen's church from 1492 was pulled down in the 18th century, and today's church was built in 1772 on the same place. A new church of Our Lady of Visitation was built by the sea.

There are 4 chapels consecrated to Our Lady in Podaca. These are: Our Lady of Mercy (1881), Our Lady of Lourdes (1895), Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception (1901) and a small chapel of the Assumption at the top of Stine (1901).

Moreover, Podaca is famous for its ''Romeo and Juliet'', i.e. Rosanda and Mladen, whose unhappy love was celebrated in verses after their tragic death in 1939 and it is known along the Littoral.