Blaca hermitage

Blaca hermitage tickets: which one to buy

The Blaca Hermitage clings to a rocky slope in a remote valley on the south side of the island of Brač, Croatia, and a ticket is required to visit the monastery museum, which is usually open from Tuesday to Sunday. There is no road to the hermitage: visitors walk for about an hour down a stony path from a parking area on the road above, or they arrive by boat at Blaca Bay and walk up for about forty-five minutes.

Organised tours from Bol, the main resort on that side of the island, combine a boat trip, the walk and a guided visit, which is the easiest option in summer. The walk is hot and exposed, so carry water and wear proper shoes. Brač is reached by ferry from Split. The hermitage is a protected cultural monument, and it gives an extraordinary picture of monastic life in isolation. Boat trips from Bol to Blaca Bay usually include time for swimming and a guided visit.

Visiting Blaca hermitage: what to see

The hermitage was founded in 1551 by Glagolitic priests, who used the old Croatian script in their liturgy and fled from the mainland to escape the Ottoman advance. They first lived in a cave and gradually built a monastery against the cliff, with a church, living quarters and farm buildings. The community farmed the valley, producing olive oil, wine and honey, and it ran a school for local children. The last monk, Niko Miličević, who died in 1963, was an astronomer and a keen collector, and the museum preserves the monastery as he left it: a library with thousands of books, old clocks, weapons, a printing press, a piano and an astronomical telescope, which he used to observe the sky and publish scientific studies.

The church is decorated with an altar and paintings, and the rooms still hold their original furniture. The terraces around the monastery overlook the valley and the sea. The monastery's kitchen still holds its old hearth, pots and tools. The library includes books in several languages, as well as maps and scientific instruments. The clock collection includes wall and pendulum clocks from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The church has a painted altar and icons. The monks kept records of the weather and the stars for decades. The valley below the monastery was once cultivated with vineyards and olive trees, and traces of the terraces survive.

Blaca hermitage opening hours and the best time to go

The museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday and closed on Mondays, with the longest hours in summer and shorter ones out of season. Summer is very hot, and the walk should be done in the early morning or late afternoon; spring and autumn are the most pleasant seasons. The boat trips from Bol run mainly from June to September. Winter is quiet, and the site may have reduced opening. Allow at least three hours for the walk there and back and the visit, and combine it with a swim at the Zlatni Rat beach in Bol. Vidova Gora, the highest peak in the Adriatic islands, rises above Bol and offers views over Zlatni Rat and the island of Hvar.