Baska Voda

Brela Donja is the best known resort on the Makarska riviera. It consists of several small settlements in the foothills of Biokovo and was named after some wells (“vrela” in Croatian). Above the settlement there are some ruins known popularly as “The Duke’s fortress” (“Hercegove utvrde”). The Chapel Our Lady of Carmel (Gospa od Karmela) was built in 1730. There is a partially preserved ancient necropolis with some gravestones with relief ornamentation. Not far away is Baska Voda (5 km southeast; 2 200 inhabitants) which was known as a settlement in the Roman era. There are two churches in the village. Above Baska Voda is the village of Bast, typical of the Biokovo foothills, after which Baska Voda was named (“Bastska Voda”). Between Baska Voda and Makarska the best known beaches are in Promajna and Bratus. Zivogosce (10 km towards Makarska; 600 inhabitants), one of the oldest settlements in the Makarska coastal area, there is a 17th century Franciscan monastery, with an inscription dating from 1766, which was converted and extended after it had been demolished during the French occupation. The monastery has a valuable library, and the church has many valuable items from the Baroque era. On the “Suzina” rock, right on the beach and beside a spring only about 10 m long, in the 4th or 5th century a Latin epigram was carved into the bare rock: “Quis quet arcanum, sapines pernoscere, fontis nasceris e scopulis, fons, moriture fretis” (“Which reasonable creature can fathom your secret, oh fountain? Oh spring, the rock gives you birth, and your death is in the sea”). The Roman poet was obviously inspired by the brevity of the stream‘s life from its source to its mouth and in these lines asked himself questions about the meaning of his life. The Academician Duje Rendic-Miocevic wrote that if this region had only left these lines, it could not be said that this Roman Province did not know true poetic expression.