Dalmatia just keeps on giving

Friday, April 19, 2024

After having looked at the Biokovo Mountain Range from Omis and Makarska and enjoying the sight from sea level, it was time to go up and check out the views from the top down.

Just like a couple of days ago, there was no one on the trails at all.
The whole range is a typical karst landscape, pretty barren and rocky, with big boulders and sharp-edged rocks.

The only place where my human met other people was at the Biokovo Skywalk, the first of its kind in Croatia. A semicircular glass platform protrudes 11 meters into nothingness at an elevation of 1228m. The road leading up to this point explaines the other people.

If you are scared of heights, walking on the glass might be a bit of a challenge, but the feeling is quite exhilarating, having what feels like nothing under your feet, looking down the steep rock wall.

The following day, we took a one-hour ferry ride to the island of Brac, the third-largest island by size in the Adriatic Sea.

You arrive in Sumartin, one of 22 settlements for the island´s 14.000 inhabitants.

The larger towns of Supetar, where the ferry from Split lands, and Bol are where most people live.

It has been called "The island without water", since there are very few fresh water springs. Most of the water needed on the island is transported there through a pipe from the mainland.

The main attraction of the island is Zlatni rat, which translates to Golden Horn, a pebble beach that changes its form depending on the flow of the tides.

It is one of the most popular beaches in the country and according to promotional material one of the prettiest in all of Europe.
Well, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, of course.

What it certainly is at this time of the year is almost deserted. During summer, one of the largest clubs in Croatia is located right on the beach, making it a meeting point for party hungry locals and tourists alike.

Having had unseasonably warm weather the last three weeks, temperatures have dropped a fair bit and it has turned somewhat April-like, overcast, windy, scatters of rain.

As my human went up Vidova gora, with 780m the highest point of all Adriatic islands, it was already windy on sea level. At the top you literally had to hold on to your hat. The views were nice enough, but very hazy and rather grey all around.

On this hike she actually met some people; on the way up a German hiking group of 15 people in their 50s and 60s, which she overtook, unsurprisingly, and on the way down a Swedish lady who would soon be very, very cold!

Bol and Zlatni rat from the top of Vidova gora

Just like on the mainland, we had no trouble finding a nice spot on the coast to park for the night. Not exactly secluded, this one, but once more right on the water. Even if the night wasnˋt the best, wind, rain and some lightning, waking up in the morning to the music of small waves hitting the shore, more than compensated for it.

In the evening, my human had noticed that she had lost her prescription sunglasses. Not one to loose glasses, lighters and umbrellas on a regular basis, she wrecked her brain where she could have left them and finally came up with the only plausible explanation.

After hanging out on the Zlantni rat beach, she went into one of the little changing stalls there to pour some fresh water over herself, in lieu of a shower. And to do so, she had hung the sunnies up on the canvas cover of the thing.

By the time she got back there, it was almost 48 hours later. Since the weather hadnˋt been great, she hoped that not many people had visited the beach and even less had used one of those stalls. Even so, the chances of the sunglasses still being there were rather slim.

But, being the lucky duck she is, there they were! The 50km detour were well worth it!

On we drove to catch the ferry back to the mainland. To get to the other side of the Biokovo range, you drive through a 5km long tunnel. When you get out on the other side, you feel transported into a different world.

Suddenly everything was lush and green to an astounding extent. And so pleasing to the eye. Not, that the ocean side wasnˋt pretty, but very rocky, gray and barren. And now we were in the Amazon! Well, figuratively speaking.

From this side, my human went on to climb the highest peak of Biokovo, Sveti jure, 1762m.

From up there, the views are truly stunning.

It was cold, though. So much so that gloves would not have been excessive.

Driving back towards the coast was a delight. We came through a little valley which was so charmingly pretty, it was hard to stand.

If you think I have been using a lot of superlatives lately, I admit to it freely. Ever since leaving Zadar, the landscape has been magnificent.

The last stop in Croatia will be Dubrovnik, where we will go tomorrow.
For a change, my human wonˋt be alone exploring the city.

Irma, a friend from the Netherlands, who she met in a language school in Ecuador 2017, will be joining us for a few days!
This will only be the third time in over 400 days on the road that we get a visitor!
We are suitably excited.