OMIS CROATIA, The Amazing Pirate City 2021 4K

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Welcome to Omis which is a small town and port at the mouth of the Cetina River in the littoral of Poljica, 26 km southeast of Split. In the 13th and 14th century Omiš was home of pirates (Omiški gusari), who used there fast boats Sagittae (The Arrow) to attack trade ships at the mouth of the River. Once they succeeded in their attacks they would fast sail up the Cetina river, where the trade ships and their escorts could not follow them.

In this period the Omiš Pirates were the most feared along the Adriatic coast and trade republics, like Venice or Dubrovnik, made non attacking agreements with them, for which Omiš Pirates paid high taxes. The Republic of Venice and the Pope tried to put an end to the Omiš pirates by sending the crusaders, defeated by the Pirates the very first time, but in a second attempt they managed to put an end to the Pirates of Omiš.

After this Omiš became part of the Bosnian Kingdom and later it was sold to the Venetian republic. Upon the fall of the Venetian republic Omiš, like main parts of Croatia, became a part of the Austrian Empire and stayed under Austrian rulership until WWI except for a 10 year period at the beginning of the 19th century when Omiš was under French rulership.
Today Omiš is a very popular tourist destination, a population of 15.000 more than triples in the main season, most tourists stay in private accommodations and family pensions as the number of hotels in the area are limited. Meanwhile tourism is the main income source for the city, but also farming, fishing, textile and food-processing industries can be found in the town.

In the winter half year the city is really quite, but every year in April/May, when the Sea is warm enough for most swimmers, life in Omiš starts to beat faster, many people from Split and the surrounding cities are dragged to the nice sandy beaches in Omiš. Also at this time of year, almost every day you can see hill climbers from different countries trying to climb the step cliffs behind the old town. And the river sport activities like rafting, canyoning etc. starts to be part of the daily program.

What to See (and do) in Omis
Do to geographical placement of Omiš, by the estuary of the Cetina river, the city has lots of stuff to offer, for its holiday guests, in terms of cultural and historical sight the old town in Omiš is of course the main attraction, and I would especially recommend tourists to see the following:
The fortress Mirabella, a 13th century fortress situated behind the old town, you reach the fortress by following stair next to the St. Michael church in the center of the old town, the entrance fee is 15 Kuna, for that you get a good exercise (lots of stairs) and a perfect view on Omiš.
Churches, the old town of Omiš host a number of old churches and an old Franciscan Monastery, which has an art collection a library with old Turkish documents.
The Fortress Starigrad (Fortica), if you are up for a really special experience, you should visit the 15th century fortress Starigrad, but for this you would have to climb, as the fortress is situated at the peak of the mountain behind the old town, the climb takes about 1 hour, so you need to be in good physical condition, but I guarantee it would be worthwhile your effort.
Omis Summer festival, in the main season, there is always something happening in and around the old town, one of the highlights is the Klapa Festival (a capella singing), which takes place in churches and on squares in the old town.

If you are more in to sport activities, you have plenty of options in Omiš, in the Cetina canyon, the following sport activities are offered.
Rafting, which several daily departures from the city center, rafting tour takes about 4-5 hours, the rafting tours can be recommended to kids from age 8 years and adults at any age, here you can read more about Rafting in Omiš.

Canyoning, although I have still yet not tried it, I heard the Canyoning trips on Cetina should be great fun, tours are arranged in period from April till end of September, participators have to be minimum 14 years old.
Other sports: Diving, Hiking, Paragliding and of course Hill climbing as I mentioned earlier. On the beaches in Omis you of course have all kinds of water sports available.

The culmination of the Pirate activities is in August, where you have a Pirate weekend and a Pirate night, on this occasion there is a pirate triathlon, a naval battle where the Pirates attacka Venetian trade ship, and lots of other activities.

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