Zaostrog

Zaostrog is a coastal village on the Makarska littoral within the Municipality of Gradac, best known for the Franciscan Monastery of St Mary and the strong connection between its old hillside settlement and the present waterfront. The village appears in written records in 1494, while a stone hand mill found on Viter hill points to much earlier human activity. Franciscans settled in the monastery in 1468; today the complex preserves a library of around 20,000 books, an archive, a permanent collection of works by Mladen Veža and a botanical garden with more than 250 plant species. Above the coast, the old settlement contains the churches of St Barbara and St Roch as well as traces of fortifications, while the population completed its move towards the sea after 1962. Modern Zaostrog forms part of the roughly fifteen-kilometre Gradac Riviera, a coast marked by pebbly beaches and vegetation. Several officially listed restaurants line Obala hrvatskih domoljuba, making it easy to combine heritage, swimming and a local meal.

Zaostrog has an unusually clear dual identity: the older settlement developed beneath Viter and Špašnik, while present-day life is concentrated along the sea. The first written mention dates from 1494, and a stone hand mill found on Viter shows that the area had been used much earlier. The upper village preserves traces of fortifications and the churches of St Barbara and St Roch, whereas coastal Zaostrog became dominant after residents completed their move down from the hillside following 1962. The Franciscan Monastery of St Mary links the two layers through its centuries-long role as a religious, educational and cultural centre. Today Zaostrog is one of four principal settlements of the Gradac Riviera, alongside Podaca, Brist and Gradac.