| Slightly to the southeast of St John’s fortress and linked by footpath, Šubićevac was built at around the same time and is in many ways a smaller, lower-down-the-hillside version of its neighbour. Šubićevac used to be called “Barone” after Baron Christoph Martin von Degenfeld (1599-1653), the noble-born freebooter who fought under Austrian, Swedish, French and Venetian flags in the course of a long and distinguished military career. Named governor-general of Dalmatia in 1645, he enjoyed three years of success against Ottoman armies before retiring to family estates in southwestern Germany.
What remains of the fortress today is fairly disappointing, with little to see save for a couple of semi-ruined buildings covered in (startlingly graphic) vulgarities courtesy of the local spray-can community. However the hilltop location is still exhilarating enough to make a visit worthwhile. There’s a viewing terrace with (pretty scruffy) park benches on top of one of the jutting bastions, offering great views of central Šibenik with the lumpy offshore forms of Zlarin, Prvić and the Kornati islands in the distance.
Northwest of Šubićevac, on the path towards St John’s Fortress, are the remains of more World War II bunkers.
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