Mirabella – Romanesque fortress, built in XIII. century above the town. Mirabela or Peovica was a reliable hideout for the Omis pirates who used to retreat into the safety of the Cetina gorge. There is an interesting story about Mirabella. In 1537, during an attack by the Turks, the defenders of Omis confused the attackers with their shouting and shots so much that the Turks overestimated the number of defenders and fled. A favourably chosen position on the tower will multiply any sound with echo, which will be aided by the river, making it impossible to locate the source of the sound.
Mirabela can be reached by climbing up the stairs from Subic Street and passing by the small church of the Holy Spirit. The trip takes approximately 15 minutes.
Coming down from the Mosor, the wind called bura grew wild in gorges of Peruna and Dovnja, stirring the Cetina into frothing frenzy and tearing the flag on the battlements of Fortica. Guards, huddled around a fire, concluded: “Not even the Satan would ever attack in a storm like this.”
“I'll go the rounds anyway”, said Frano. He struggled to open the door and got to the edge of the tower. He watched attentively until on Prirovo he saw the candlelight he was expecting. Mihaela had lit a candle in the window. They didn't meet in public because the girl was from the prominent Didic family, while Frano was a young Vlach, merely a scout. Leaping forward, Frano came down to the Cetina across the sandbank of Planova. He found a boat under a willow tree, jumped in and started rowing. A blast of bura turned the boat over, and the river swallowed the young man. Tomorrow, people in Starigrad started saying that Frano had run away to the Turks, but Mihaela recognized the boat at the Cetina estuary and kept silent about the big secret. The stings of remorse never left her for as long as she lived, and she could be seen wandering along the Prika bank, watching the river eddying below Starigrad.
Starigrad can be reached by car up to Baucic, and then there is a twenty-minute walk along a marked path.
Chronicler Gojak described the years of hunger in the region of Zabiokovlje. Folk tales filled in what he left out: a widow called Andjelija came down to Podvisuc (today called Radmanove Mlinice) in search of food. If she failed to bring a bag of flour by evening, her four children would die of starvation. She knocked on the doors of Visuc in vain, where reigned the masters of the water-mills. Eventually, she came down to the Cetina river and begged for mercy. “The Cetina is right here, feed your children with fish and crabs”, said the miller maliciously.
“May it be as you say, and may the same fate that befell my children befall yours and your masters!” said Andja and jumped into the Cetina with her empty bag. The miller was terrified, pulling his hair out, as the wheels of the mill were breaking Andja's bones. The summer and the winter passed, and the new spring brought a storm along. Clouds grew large and turbulent, Visuc was struck by a lightning, which destroyed the castle. The swollen Cetina broke the dams and carried away the grist and the miller for fish food.
Once proud, Visuc now juts out like an old woman's tooth, warning the arrogant and the sated alike.
The remains of Visuc “hang” on a cliff 270m above Radmanove Mlinice. The ruins can be reached by driving along the road to Sviniste for 2 kilometers, and then hiking up for 15 minutes.
Zadvarje is the gate ("duare" in Italian) to Primorje and the Cetina river, located above the gorge, with great torrents of the Gubavica. The Turks expanded the existing fortress in the 16th century, taking control over Dubci and the Cetina. Fearing for their safety, the citizens of Omis bribed Murat, the bey of Zadvarje, with gold. Leaving Omis, Murat had an orgy and kidnapped a girl in the Kucici village. Katica, who was still a child, cried for mercy, but janissaries spurred the bey with their howling. It was a full moon over Zadvarje when the bey brought the girl into his castle. He ripped of her clothes and raped her. Katica kept scratching Murat's face with her fingernails until he was all covered with blood. The bey went berserk and strangled the girl with bare hands.
It’s been 460 years since the crime, but still, during the nights of the full moon, a ghost of Murat, covered with blood, stumbles and howls along the walls of the castle.
Drive out of the centre of Zadvarje to the water station, and then, after gaining the permit, go round the administration building and you will be at the “Murat tower” in ten minutes.
