Mount Hum and the south coast

Rearing up above Komiža to the southeast is Mount Hum, at 587m Vis's highest point. You can scramble up to the top by following the tracks from behind the Benedictine monastery, although there's also a road of sorts, accessed by following the old Komiza–Vis Town route (not the new one traversed by buses), which works its way round the southern side of the island. About 6km out of Komiža, take a left to the hamlet of Zena Glava followed by a second left to Borovik, from where a deteriorating asphalt road heads uphill to the summit. There's a small chapel at the top, and a panorama of the Adriatic that reveals just why Vis was so strategically important: you can pick out the pale grey stripe of the Italian coastline far away to the west, and the mountains of the Croatian mainland to the east. Also visible are many of the uninhabited islands of the mid-Adriatic: the hump of Svetac immediately to the west, the unearthly volcanic pyramid ofJabuka beyond it and, to the southeast, Croatia's farthest-flung Adriatic possession, Palagruža – according to legend, the last resting place of Diomedes, King of Argos and leading participant in the siege of Troy.
Nearing Hum's summit by road, you'll pass an overgrown concrete stairway leading to Tito's Cave (Titova špilja), a group of caverns from which the Marshal directed the war effort during 1944. Once a popular attraction, the caves fell into disuse after 1991, although local enthusiasts occasionally open them up for visitors in July and August – the tourist offices in Komiža and Vis will Town have up-to-date information. Returning to the road along the south of the island, another 5krn from the Zena Glava turn-off is the village of PLISKO POLJE, where the British constructed a speedily improvised airstrip in 1944 by linking together innumerable metal plates. It was long ago pulled up and replaced by vineyards, the fruits of which can be sampled at Konoba Roki in the village – a great place to sit in a shady courtyard trying out the local rakija (flavoured with rqgac, carob) and red and white wines, accompanied by prsut, home-made cheese, and fishy main courses baked ispod peke.

ja_mageia

Dubrovnik

Places Around

Islands

Croatia