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Podaca
is a tourist locality situated in the south part of the Makarska
riviera at the foot Of Mt Biokovo, about 35 km distanc from Makarska
.The locality is divided in three hamlets:Kapec,Viskovica vala and
Ravanje. Nowadays, Podaca as a part of the Makarska littoral is
completely oriented towards tourism . There are about 660
inhabitants living at Podaca mainly engaged in toursm.
The locality has available about 1100 beds in private rooms , apartments
and suits, ca. 300 beds in the tourist village Morenia and about 600
accommodation units at the camping site "Uvala borova" (The pine
bay).
Beautiful beaches in the peacefulness of the pinewood and the
gastronomic offer of Dalmatian folk – cuisine as well as the
vicinity of attractive daytrip destinations make Podaca a very
desirable place for vacation.
Podaca has developed upon the rocky slopes of Biokovo,in a position
suitable for defence,and its history reaches far into the Stone Age
which is documented by archeological finds, such as a stone grain
mortar preserved in the Franciscan monastery at Zaostrog .
There are many burial mounds at the foot of Biokovo as a testimony of
times when this area was inhabited by the Illyrians (2000 BC –
Ist-century).
At the times of the Roman Empire this area was governed by Narona, which
is documented by many archeological finds, such as a broken um with
a silver coin of the Roman emperor Severio (193.-211.AD) found in
this region. A testimony of those times is also a wall fragment next
to which was also found a medieval stone capital very similar to the
capitals of our early Croatian churches.
When the Croats during the great movement of the peoples setted in the
Makarska littoral (the 6th-8th-centuries) they had inhabited also
this region, but high above in the slopes of the mountain for easier
defence and also in order to make good use of the Biokovo pastures.
In this region the Croats had constantly fought battles against the
Venetians and the Croatian maritime power reached its peak during
the era of the Kacic clan from Omiš, and their fall (in 1280) was
also the end of the Croatian maritime power.
At Gornja Podaca, dating from the 11th and 12th-centures, there is the
early Croatian church of St. John with the tombs of the Kacic
family, which was a votive foundation of the Kacic family. St.John's
church in the Cemetery at Podaca was built in the pre-Romanesque
times in the 11th and 12th centuries and it is considered to be one
of the most important pre-Romanesque churches in Dalmatia.
In 1492., not far from St.John's church, there was built St. Stephen's
church which was demolished in the 18th century to cede the place to
the present church which was built in 1762. Surrounding the church
is the cemetery with a medieval Bosnian standing tomb-stone. Under
its present name Podaca is first mentioned in 1571. The village grew
on the slopes of Biokovo, close to St.John theBaptist's church.
This area dominates still today over the present locality and its name is
Gornja Podaca (Upper Podaca). At the entrance to the village there
is a well preserved Tover which was built for defence from the
Turkish attacks.
After an earthquake in 1962., almost entire population moved to the
coastal area where a new church was built to Our Lady of
Annunciation.
Info: TZ
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