Podaca

Podaca is a coastal village in the Municipality of Gradac, comprising the hamlets of Kapeć, Viskovića Vala and Ravanje on the southern Makarska Riviera. Today’s houses and bathing areas extend between the Adriatic Highway and the sea, while Old Podaca occupies the rocky slopes beneath Biokovo. The climb to the abandoned village leads past ruined stone houses, a defensive tower associated with the Cretan War, a bell tower commissioned by Ivan Tomić and a viewpoint over the coast. Its most important monument is the early Croatian Church of St John, which contains graves of the Kačić family; finds from Podaca span periods from the Neolithic to Roman rule. Long pebble bathing areas line the coast around Viskovića Vala and Ravanje, making it easy to divide a stay between the sea and the historic hillside settlement. Podaca forms part of the roughly 15-kilometre coastal sequence of Zaostrog, Podaca, Brist and Gradac. Gradac supplies a broader range of services and excursions, while Zaostrog’s Franciscan monastery keeps a Neolithic stone threshing tool discovered in the Podaca area.

Podaca consists of three distinct hamlets: Kapeć, Viskovića Vala and Ravanje. Its coastal section developed between the Adriatic Highway and pebble beaches, while Old Podaca occupies higher, rocky ground beneath Biokovo. This split layout defines the village: a modern holiday settlement stands by the sea, with an abandoned historic core of ruins, a tower and a church above it. Archaeological evidence reaches back to the Neolithic, while Roman-period finds include an urn containing a coin of Emperor Severus, dated to 193–211. Podaca consequently differs from neighbouring resorts through the unusually visible relationship between its shoreline and old hillside village.