Church of Our Lady of the Snows – Stomorica

Note: If you only plan to walk to the church of Our Lady of the Snows, it is a very easy trail of 3.38 km and 114 m of elevation gain one way, taking about 45 minutes at an easy pace. The trail has only a gentle climb along its entire length. Wanting a slightly longer route, we decided to descend the steep southern slope from the church of Our Lady of the Snows and, on the way back, climb up to the ridge again past the church of sv. Maksim (St. Maximus). That gave us a loop trail that is still fairly easy, and the basic trail information given here refers to that longer variant.

Poljička planina stretches for 17 km, from Žrnovnica near Split all the way to the mouth of the Cetina in Omiš. We have already written about a couple of its peaks with old little churches that offer spectacular views of the sea and the hinterland. It consists of three ridges, or hills — Perun, Vršina and Mošnica. Many people call the entire mountain Perun, after the hill closest to Split. In Croatia there are quite a few toponyms rooted in the name Perun, the Slavic supreme god of thunder and lightning. According to legend, wherever Perun strikes the earth with his lightning, an iris (perunika) springs up. Not wanting to turn into irises ourselves — there has been plenty of rain with thunderstorms lately — we picked a sunny but chilly day at the end of November for this outing. Our destination is the church of Our Lady of the Snows above Naklice and Duće, depending on which side of the hill you are looking from.

The church of Gospa od sniga, also known as Gospa snježna or Gospa od Stomorice (Our Lady of the Snows / Our Lady of Stomorica), can be reached from several directions. We chose the route via Truša, a hamlet within Tugare. Although there are a few widenings suitable for parking in the hamlet, many of them are private, so we ended up leaving the car a kilometre earlier, next to the cemetery. There you will find a spacious plateau with a public parking lot, which is also the starting point for the climb up to the church of sv. Maksim, which we have already written about.

On this side and at this time of year the trail mostly runs through shade. Ideal if you are looking for some cooling off, especially when the Bura is blowing.

The trail is easy and pleasant to walk. Along its entire length we pass the stations of the Stations of the Cross. Benches have also been placed along the way. Most are in fairly poor condition, but we appreciate the enthusiasm of those who put them there.

From here the eye wanders from Mosor in the north to the impressive profile of Omiška Dinara in the east, and well beyond.

The signs call it Gospa od Stomorice. Stomorica is the peak the church sits on, with a beautiful view opening up towards the southeast. What spoils the view here are the power lines. I understand that it is easiest to run cables through saddles, which is also where mountain passes tend to go, but surely there is another way — it is just that no one here bothers with it. We are still a long way from being a well-run tourist destination.

After a short break by the church, the plan was to visit the small cave in the rock face below and then return the same way. However, we could not resist the sunlit southern slope sheltered from the Bura, so we decided to head back that way. That would mean climbing up to the ridge again past the church of sv. Maksim, but for us that was just one more reason to do it!

The southern side is gorgeous!!!

Views of the sea and the cliffs above, drystone walls, karst, meadows, olive groves, forests, old hamlets… Between Omiš and Split there are countless combinations you can put together. All these trails can be reached by car from numerous places — Duće, Dugi Rat, Krilo Jesenice, Podstrana.

Just so nothing could be perfect, people have once again seen to that. In this stretch what catches the eye is the devastated environment of the former Dalmacija Dugi Rat factory right by the sea. It is hard to believe that in this day and age no funds can be raised to clean up that horrible, enormous area. But that is not all! Some bright spark thought it would be a great idea to build a newer factory on the hill above. We are not against factories, but these days the solution is to put such plants in industrial or so-called “business” zones, and not in among residential and tourist developments. As if to prove that our greed knows no end, a petrol station has gone up on the point, with a vehicle inspection centre just below it. And so on the one hand you have paradise on earth in front of the iconic Bracera, and right behind it a dystopian world of darkness and human stupidity.

Luckily, the trails are high up and far away, so these ugly things end up looking minor.

A story about a dog

Right at the start of the trail, as we were passing through the hamlet of Truša, a dog joined us. Obedient and playful at the same time, he led us along the whole way. Whenever we accidentally strayed off the trail, he would look at us in disbelief and call us back to the right path. He clearly knows the terrain well and goes on outings like this often! He did not turn down the sandwich we offered him, and he drank from every puddle. He obeyed every command — giving a paw, sitting down on cue… In the end, when we headed back towards the car, he said goodbye and set off on his own way home (?!?). We were taken aback, since we had expected a much harder farewell.

On your travels you can run into all sorts of things, see, discover and learn. The episode with this special dog is just one more confirmation of that 🙂