In May, we set out to discover the beauties of Murter, and this small church, Crkva Sv. Roka, immediately captivated us. From here, there's a beautiful view of the surrounding islets and the mainland, simply far and wide. You can also clearly see the towns of Murter and Betina from here.
Crkva Sv. Roka is located on Vršina hill. You can park a short distance from the summit, and from there, a paved path will lead you. Or you can choose the path with stairs.
The church was built in the 18th century and is dedicated to Sv. Roko. It is believed that when the plague spread on Murter in the second half of the 18th century, it was Sv. Roko who protected the locals from the plague. Therefore, they later built and dedicated a church to him on the hill above Murter, so that he could watch over the health of all residents from there.
It must be admitted that the view from here is truly magnificent. Besides the surrounding islands, there's also a view of the neighboring hill Raduč, which is the highest hill on Murter. And on the mainland, beyond Murter and Betina, Vransko jezero shyly peeks out in two places.
The Day of Sv. Roko is celebrated on August 16th, and on that day, the statue of Sv. Roko is ceremonially carried through the old part of Murter to the church of Sv. Mihovil. The day before, August 15th, another great church holiday is celebrated, Velika Gospa – the Assumption of Mary, and this day is a public holiday in Croatia.
Although the small church was closed, we spent a long time in the area around it; you can walk all the way around it and look in all directions. We also spent a long time on our favorite Murter pastime – identifying which island was which 🙂 we really enjoyed that. It was our first time on Murter, so we were constantly trying to figure out which island we were seeing. And this fun had no end, because there are really a lot of islands and islets there. So, not only for this reason, we can recommend a visit to Sv. Roka, it's worth it.
