Vruja – the largest submarine spring in the Mediterranean

“More, more!” (“The sea, the sea!”), “Pelegrin!”, “Gospa!” (“Our Lady!”)… Vruja has heard so much through millennia of mankind’s fascination with the unknown, the terrifying and the beautiful all at once — but if all those cries were let loose at the same time, they would be drowned out by a single one: the howl of the Vrujanka, the Biokovo bura, which here hurls itself down with all its fury through the Dupci pass, making the sea boil so violently that sea spray rises high enough to block the view of the neighbouring island of Brač.

The Dupci pass (300 m) separates Biokovo from the Dovnja massif, part of the Omiška (Primorska) Dinara. Two stretches of coastline also meet here: the Makarska one, which begins at Brela, and the Omiš one, which begins at Pisak on the far side. Dupci thus forms a natural funnel through which the bura gains exceptional power. There is a saying that the bura is born in Senj and dies at Vruja.

In the past, a steel cable was fixed along the cliffs for people to hold on to when passing through during the bura. Its force is so great that it would once hurl loaded horses into the abyss.

And it is not only the bura that makes the sea boil here. Vruja, or vrulja, is the name for a submarine freshwater spring. Enormous quantities of water from Proložac Blato, Biokovo and the Cetina rise here through countless fissures, some up to 90 m long. The largest of them is circular, 60 m in diameter. This is the largest vrulja in the Adriatic, and probably in the whole Mediterranean.

Vruja has the status of a geological and palaeontological natural monument, and there is a 642 m difference in elevation from the highest peak of Šatarica down to sea level.

Legends

According to popular tradition, it was right here at Vruja that the Croats in the seventh century first descended from the interior and cried out “More, more!” (“The sea, the sea!”).

Another legend tells of Pelegrin, an ancient, cursed town on the seabed. Supposedly, the bells of its churches can sometimes still be heard today when the sea grows rough. The legend says that whoever finds themselves at this spot at midnight on Christmas may see white horses pulling a carriage with a prince and princess out of the sea. If that person managed to leap into the carriage and hand the prince the reins, the curse would be lifted from Pelegrin and it would rise once more from the sea.

Dupci abounds in other wonders too. At a passage called Prokop, the water has carved the figure of Our Lady into the rock. The locals built a chapel at that spot, beside which they would always cross themselves as they passed.

The Trail

A trail runs through Vruja below the road, by which one can get from Pisak to Brela, but here we have included only one part of it, 3 km long, which starts at the viewpoint on the Adriatic coastal highway and ends at one of the beaches to the east.

We would classify the trail as easy, but because of the steepness of the descent to the destination beach — and especially the longer and steeper one down to the main beach — we nevertheless rated it moderately difficult.

It is best to leave the car at the aforementioned viewpoint by the coastal highway, from where a gravel road descends towards the “Stella Maris” statue of Our Lady, set in a prominent position with a fantastic view over the entire bay. From there onward to the east you only need to follow the hiking trail markings. The trail at first crosses barren land and karst, with views of an exceptionally dramatic landscape that will leave no one indifferent. After 2 km the trail continues through a pine forest, and every so often there are turnoffs onto goat paths by which you can descend a steep slope to hidden beaches.

The destination of this 3 km long trail is a picturesque beach with a stone arch on its southern side. Incidentally, this is the westernmost point you can reach by car coming from the direction of Brela.

Vruja Beach

On the way back we also descended to the main beach at Vruja. The descent is fairly steep, so good footwear is definitely recommended. The beach itself is one of the most beautiful we have ever seen! Although it looks lovely even from above, it is only when you step onto it that you realise you are in a special place.

The beach is made of the finest shingle, which in places forms huge drifts, evidently thrown up by powerful waves. True, this shingle does not extend far into the sea, so after just a few metres into the water it gives way to larger pebbles and rocks.

Here too, on land, water springs out on all sides from cracks in the rocks and the ground. Particularly interesting is a little stream that, after a few metres, flows into the sea.

The view of the cliffs to the east is especially impressive! There, the mouths of giant caves loom over the sea, lapped by the waves. The openings are surely a few dozen metres high, and the sea in front of them boils with underwater springs.

Rocks are scattered randomly across the beach itself, some of them half buried in the shingle. This is a unique place, utterly different from all others. The entire landscape, seen from the beach, feels somehow unreal and primordial, as if by some miracle you had strayed into the time when dinosaurs walked the earth. I have not had such a feeling even in far more isolated places around the world, and it is impossible to convey it through photographs.

Vruja as a Challenge

Vruja has always stirred the imagination. So it is in our own time as well. A few years ago it became a climbing challenge, because the cliffs around it literally tempt you to conquer them. In 2018, the young Slovenian and world champion Jernej Kruder set the hardest route in Croatia and the region on the cliffs above Vruja. He managed to climb it after 63 attempts! The footage of the ascent, especially the section on the overhang, is fascinating!

Vruja is a unique natural phenomenon and one of the greatest attractions in Croatia. Such a dramatic landscape is rarely seen, and the combination of the two mountain massifs that meet here and the incredibly beautiful sea lapping at the wild beaches is something that stays in your memory forever.

Note: The Vruja cove has been the subject of years of devastation by irresponsible politics and big capital. Although the contentious building is fairly hidden within the cove itself (a cove within a cove) and, unlike many other contentious human interventions, was at least carried out with some respect for aesthetic criteria, the road that was cut without a permit from the coastal highway to the building through this natural monument has permanently disfigured the cove. This is one of the notorious examples of human greed and callousness, yet nature here is so intense that not even human activity has managed to defile it to the point of diminishing its supreme beauty and singularity.