Before the 1962 earthquakes, Podgora was not on the coast — it was a cluster of stone hamlets several hundred metres up the hillside, where the inhabitants were safe from the pirate raids that troubled the Adriatic for centuries. After the quakes the population was largely relocated to the seafront, and the old village above became a partial ruin. Walking through the empty stone houses, you can still trace the lanes, wells, and small churches of what was here.
A marked walking path leads up from the modern town in about forty minutes. The reward is the silence, the views back over the coastline and the islands, and the sense of a place that was abandoned in living memory. A few of the houses have been restored as second homes; most stand as roofless shells with fig trees growing through the floors. Bring water — there is nothing for sale up here.