The natural park of Biokovo in Croatia

The solid mass of Biokovo was known under various names with the wire of the occupations of the area by various people: at the 1st century before J. - C., the Greek geographer Strabon named it Adrion; under the Byzantine Empire, after the arrival of Slavic Croatian, Biokovo was indicated under the name of Mons Slavorum, the mountain of the Slavic ones.

The solid mass of Biokovo is bordered in the North-West by the valley Cetina and, in south-east, by the valley Neretva.

Biokovo separates a narrow coastal strip from the back-country of Dalmatia, Dalmatian Zagora. This solid mass constitutes like a wall between this colder back-country and the littoral: it is the cause of the phenomenon of “will bura”, a strong wind and cold which goes down from the mountain and breath on will riviera of Makarska during the winter, but also of the good ventilation of this will riviera during the hot season.

The Natural park of Biokovo is part of the county of Split-Dalmatia; it includes territories belonging to the communes of Makarska, Vrgorac, Brela, Baška Voda, Tučepi, Podgora, Zagvozd, Zadvarje and Šestanovac.

The Park understands rare hamlets, more or less abandoned, which testify to the hard mountain life that the former inhabitants of Biokovo carried out (will bura it and snow in winter, strong heats in summer), with their small horses, their donkeys, their cows, their goats and their sheep. The ways skirt old huts of shepherds and small vegetable gardens or potato fields established in dolines of the karstic solid mass, where cultivate themselves still today celebrates it potato of Biokovo, garlic and the wheat. The shepherds as their animals watered themselves with small ponds formed by the rains and with the small underground brooks. Many traces of human life dating from the time illyrienne were discovered (tumuli) there.

• on the side of the littoral, the splendid bay of Makarska and the seaside resorts of will riviera of Makarska, Brela, Baška Voda and Tućepi; in north, the glance reaches Omiš and Split, and, in the south, the mouth of Neretva. With broad, in clear weather, one can see the whole of the Dalmatian islands: Brač, Hvar, Korčula, Lastovo, Screw and Mljet, and the peninsula of Pelješac. In very clear weather it would be even possible to distinguish the Gargano mount, in the area of Apulia in Italy, on other bank of the Adriatic - distant of 252 km.
• side of the back-country, one sees a broad valley; in the North-East, Imotski and its plain (Imotsko polje), and, in south-east, Vrgorac. This broad valley is bordered in north by one second watershed: they are the mountains of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

At any other place of the Adriatic coast the dinaric alpine range is not closer to the sea than it is it in the solid mass of Biokovo; only the solid mass of Velebit is also close to the littoral. After a narrow coastal strip the solid mass of Biokovo rises brutally from the Adriatique coast until an altitude of 1762 m where the mount Saint George (Sveti Jure) culminates which is only to 5 km of the coast.

The Information center of Ravna Vlaška is opened to the visitors the every day, of the Monday to Sunday, 8:00 to 16:00

The rise in Vošac is the most popular excursion of Makarska: from the village of Makar, the path reaches the top of Vošac, to 1 422 m, by borrowing the path of discovered n° 8 (PEP 8). While continuing on the line during 15 min one joined the view-point of Štrbina, to 1320 m of altitude, which offers also beautiful sights on will riviera. It is also possible to join Vošac and Štrbina - into 20 min of easier walk - by taking the road of Biokovo and while being parked on the carpark of the list of excursion of Pod Vošac.

The top of Sveti Jure is the terminus of the road of Biokovo, road a 23 km length which is the tarred road highest of Croatia - with vertiginous turns to make quiver and crossings of very complicated vehicles. The top is also accessible on foot by several hiking trails: the hiking trail of Makar via the Vošac mount; the path of Veliko Brdo and Bašković via the Lokva mount, starting from Makarska; the path of Milići via the Turija mount, the side of the interior of the grounds.

This difficult rise - so much by the road than by the paths - is rewarded by the stunning panorama than the top offers on the littoral, the islands of the Adriatic, the back-country, called Dalmatian Zagora, and to the mountains of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The construction of the transmitter required the destruction, in 1965, of an old chapel located at the top of the mount Sveti Jure. This chapel Saint George probably went up at the time of the conversion of the Croats, around the 12th century. A new chapel Saint George was built in 1968 below the transmitter; it accommodates a pilgrimage each last Saturday of July.

• The deepest pit is the pit of Amfora, with 788 m of depth; it is the fourth deepest pit of Croatia.
• One of largest dolines of collapse in the world is that of Crveno jezero.
• The cave of Tučepska Vilenjača: located at 1180 m of altitude, at the bottom of a cliff, this cave present of the stalactites, stalagmites and draperies, as well as an interesting cavernicolous fauna.
• Holes with ice: formerly “cutters of ice” conveyed on the back of mules their loading of ice to the coast for the conservation of the foodstuffs; the blocks of ice were covered with sheets of beech and were wrapped in a made fabric of hairs of goat.
• Biokovo is extremely low in water - 80% of the hydrographic network are underground -: it is only in the zones where the calcareous solid mass meets the base which are born the karstic sources which irrigate some sparse pastures.
• Other karstic sources are underwater, for example the important source “Breljanska vruja” which emerges in Brela and which is the greatest underwater source of the Mediterranean.

The path starts with kilometer 9 of the road of Biokovo, between Lemešini doci and Jakičuša, after the great series of hairpin bends which go up on the plate. A panel of presentation is on the right on the road of Biokovo, and there are two other panels along the path. The path easy and is marked out by panels of excursion; it takes approximately half an hour.

The “road of Biokovo” is 23 km length between the main entrance, located at 365 m of altitude, and the terminus at the top of the mount Saint George which culminates to 1,762 Mr. C’ is a road very steep and sinuous, with only one way, with zones of crossing all the 300 Mr. speed is limited there to 50 km/h, but - taking into account the difficult conditions of control - it is necessary to count one hour to traverse the 23 km until the top. Before arriving at the mount Sveti Swears, the road passes by the points of view of “Staza”, “Ravna Vlaška”, “Štrbina” and “Vošac” with stunning landscapes.

If one does not want to launch out in this adventure, one can go to the mount Saint George by taking the minibuses proposed by the travel agencies of Makarska or Tučepi.

Addresses: 1 Trg Tina Ujevića HR-21300 Makarska

Opening hours: Monday to Friday, 7:00 at 15:00 and 17:30 at 22:00; saturdays, of 8:00 to 12:00 and 17:30 to 22:00; Sunday, of 8:30 to 12:00 and 17:30 to 22:00 They are the schedules for July and August: they can differ at the other dates.

Telephone: 00,385 (0) 21,616,924

Website: www.biokovo.com.

Courriel: prirode-biokovo@st.t-com.hr.

Schedules of the main entrance: from mid-May to September, 7:00 to 20:00; from April at mid-May and in October: 8:00 at 16:00

Tariff of entry by the main entrance: 30 kunas by anybody.

Croatian service of Mountain rescue (HGSS) of Makarska: 00,385 (0) 91,721,001 or 112.