Today - our last day on Brač Island in Croatia...our internet FINALLY came back on!!! I have been keeping up with blog posts on our computer so that I wouldn't forget where we had been and what we had done - so the following pages (and my apologies in advance for the length of this post) are the posts for the last week....
FRIDAY 31ST AUGUST Our last day in Tučepi (Friday) was much the same as Thursday….swimming, eating and relaxing. The day was a little more windy than the day before so when we rented the paddle-boat with slide thingy the wind was a bit too strong and as much as we tried to paddle the wind was pushing us backwards down the beach. Didn’t make for an easy time going on the slide when after you had gone down it the boat had floated away from you and you had to chase it down.... Tučepi is a great place and we were lucky to have found such a nice place to stay at the last minute (literally booked a few days before). Tomorrow we move onto the next stop on our world tour...Brač Island.
Taking it easy.
Catching up on all the latest fairy and barbie gossip!
Sunset on another great day.....
SATURDAY 1ST SEPTEMBER
On Saturday we got back in the car and headed for our next destination, the village of Splitska on the Croatian island of Brač (pronounced “Brach”).
To get there we had to drive to a town called Makarska which was only 10 minutes from Tučepi, and then drive the car onto a car ferry to go across the sea to Brač island.
We got there with plenty of time to spare (worried about how busy it would be and whether we would get a spot for the car on the boat…there were only 3 ferries that day to get us to Brač) and took our place in the car queue. We were right near the front so no problem about getting on. Shane expertly drove our car onto the boat and then joined us upstairs in the ‘saloon’ for the 1 hour trip to Brač.
The car ferry to Brač island.
Boarding the ferry. Our car is the silver one on the right...it actually has Slovenian number-plates so everyone looks at us weirdly when we get out and start speaking in Australian accents.
On the ferry....
They certainly pack the cars on.....
Pulling up into Sumartin on Brač island.
We arrived on Brač but on the other side of the island to where Splitska was. So we drove across the island (which is very bare but apparently is famous for its white Brač stone which is used to make all of the local houses and is also the building material for the White house in the USA). Shane is getting good at driving on the ‘right’ side of the road but I must admit I am still uneasy and get very nervous when he drives close to the side of the road….particularly when the roads are barely wide enough for one car, let alone 2 trying to pass each other. But I have to say that the Croatians (and most others too ) drive very slowly and carefully and there are not many people who tear around the streets like madmen…there just isn’t the space to do it!!
We arrived in Spitska and found our accommodation for the next week. We discovered that we have a whole house to ourselves (normally the house has 3 separate flats but for the week we are here the other 2 flats are not occupied) which includes sole use of a Jacuzzi spa and a sauna room, plus a bar and fitness equipment! Its like a private resort!!!! That certainly makes it much less stressful with 2 children who like to talk at the top of their voices ALL the time!
Splitska is a gorgeous little port village consisting of 3 restaurants, 1 bar and a supermarket. The peak season has just finished so it is REALLY quiet and very peaceful.
The port village of Splitska...
We had walked into the village for dinner and just as we were finishing I saw that the sky was getting blacker and blacker. The waiter in the restaurant said that the rain will start in 5 minutes so the girls and I set off for ‘home’, hoping to beat the storm. We almost made it. The first drops of rain started about halfway home and then the storm really kicked in just as we turned into our street. Soaking but safe we made it inside as the rain, wind, lightning and thunder set in for the next hour.
The storm made the downstairs rooms (the bar and fitness area) lose power and it also cut our satellite TV (disaster!!!!). But most annoyingly, it blew up the wifi internet modem….how I was I going to update our blog!!???!!
SUNDAY 2ND SEPTEMBER
Sunday dawned with clear blue skies and not a hint of the storm from the night before (apart from the lack of internet and TV) – the girls hadn’t even noticed because they were straight in the spa as soon as they were up (at the annoyingly early time of 630am….what happened to my children that slept until 8am in Ireland?!?). I must admit I had been awake since 6am when the town church bells decided to ring a happy tune for 5 minutes.
On Sunday we took a walk to the port and went to the local ‘beach’ (which is actually just a cement slab out into the water – but with water that beautiful who needs pretty sand?).
Spitska 'beach'
The seagull "Mrs Thornton" from Dublin has followed us all the way to Croatia.....Neve was certain that this was the same bird that we had seen near our place in Dublin....
"Self portrait"
We also explored another pebble beach and took a drive to the main town on Brač, called Supetar (which I keep wanting to call ‘Superstar’). Supetar has some of the narrowest roads I have ever seen (even more than France or Italy) which we (or Shane) successfully navigated.
We found a large Lidl store (like Aldi) and stocked up on all the ‘essentials’…5 packets of chips, 2 blocks of chocolate, more prosciutto since Neve eats about 5kg per day, and a bottle of gin that cost the equivalent of $8…..God bless Croatia!!!!
The guy who looks after the apartment came to fix the TV and internet. The TV was a simple fix (some switch up in the roof cavity), but with the modem being dead he was going to need some I.T. support (which wasn’t going to happen on a Sunday)….another day without internet!!!
The view to the Croatian mainland from our terrace...
MONDAY 3RD SEPTEMBER
On Monday, Neve and I were out early to catch the ferry from Supetar back to the mainland and the city of Split to go and pick up my Mum (who was flying in from Australia) from the airport. We had to convince Eloise we were just going out to get more ‘groceries’ so that she didn’t get upset that she wasn’t coming too since both girls were very excited to have their ‘nanny’ coming on holiday with them.
The ferry was much bigger than the one we had caught on Saturday (it even had an escalator in it which amused Neve no end) and it took us 45 minutes to get to Split. The ferries are so big and so heavy (carrying so many cars) that thankfully the journey across is really smooth – no fear of seasickness!!!
The ferry from Supetar to Split
Neve on the top deck of the ferry
Split itself is a very big city (compared to others like Dubrovnik) and is mostly industrial and not very pretty. There is an old section near the port that is filled with little alleys and shops and cafes and there is a cool farmers market – but as you move away from there, it gets a bit ‘grungy’.
We wandered a little but then Neve was desperate to get to the airport so we hopped on a bus and off we went.
We got to the airport WAY to early…..2 hours too early……but we wasted time wandering up and down and going outside and dancing to music on my mobile phone. FINALLY my Mum’s plane landed and we all headed off back to Splitska.
On the bus on the way back from the airport.....
"Mrs Thornton" flying beside the ferry back to Brač...she certainly is keeping her eye on Neve....
Shane and (a very excited) Eloise met us at the ferry – with Eloise wondering why we needed to catch a ferry to get ‘groceries’ – and we took Mum back to show her where she would be staying. I am not sure she had even put her bags down and Eloise was stripped off, in her cossies and begging her to go in the spa!!
So a quick spa (and gin and tonic) later, we were all dressed and wandered into the village where we sat at our favourite restaurant (they even gave us free anchovies for entrée today!!) and had another drink and some dinner. I had that tradiational “steak, Zagreb style” which turned out to be a thin veal steak folded over some prosciutto and cheese and then covered in breadcrumbs and fried - could literally feel my arteries clogging up as I chewed…but it was delicious! Neve and Shane left early as Neve has been bitten by mossies and it a little allergic so was starting to swell up and she needed some medicine.
After dinner the sky started getting black and we could see in the distance some lighting. What a great show mother nature put on for us!!! There must have been a flash of lightning every 2 seconds that lasted over an hour without so much as a single grumble of thunder….it was quite spectacular and we sat on the balcony enjoying the ‘show’ for a while.
The lightning show over Brač - seen from the terrace.
Meanwhile, today the I.T. guy had been to look at the modem (and agreed it was dead) and put in a new (secondhand) one….however it appears the phone line is down so even the new (secondhand) one doesn’t work yet……another day without internet but fingers crossed for tomorrow!
Tuesday dawned with a hangover of the night before…a few black clouds remained and some stubborn thunder could still be heard – but as the morning wore on, the clouds wore off and the sun once again was beating down ferociously.
After a lazy start to the morning (well – for Eloise and I anyway, the others were out early walking down to the port and having coffee) we jumped in the car for the very short drive to the next town, Postira. It was a bit of an ‘off road’ adventure to get there – we took the dirt track rather than the road. Postira is a larger town than Splitska but just a pretty and has the added attraction for the kids of a playground!
The village of Postira
We sat and had a drink by the water - Eloise had an ‘Italian style’ hot chocolate that was so thick the spoon nearly stood straight up in the drink.
Eloise's hot chocolate...
We then took a while around the port. There is nice little beach (pebbly of course) that we might come back to visit on another day. There was a young family on the beach – there little son (must have been 3 years old) was out (maybe 20 metres) on a huge floating ring thing and the parents were on the beach. The kid had floaties on his arms so he obviously couldn’t swim…not sure how he got out there but he then decided he wanted to get off…..I was terrified that one of us would have to go and save him – but after some yelling from him, his father got up and swam out to get him. Feel free to call me ‘overprotective’ but there is NO WAY I would leave my child out there on their own…..I wouldn’t even let Neve go that far out on her own and she is (probably) able to swim there and back by herself!
The girls keeping watch over all the passing ships.....
We found "Coca Cola" flavoured gelato - sounds awful but actually strangely nice. Looks like ice-cream but tastes like Coke....
Our 'wheels' for the next week....
We came back from Postira and the heat had really started. After a beautiful lunch on our private terrace we hit the jacuzzi for some post-lunch relaxation (‘cos we needed to be more relaxed – grin). This afternoon we went to the main town on Brač…Supetar, which has a big port and reminds me a little (and it’s just a vague thought) of Bali…it has lots of market type stalls lining the beachfront. Neve also spotted some more of those paddle-boat with slide thingys so no doubt we will be back for a swim at some point this week.
Supetar port....
The ferry from Supetar to Split - the same one Neve and I caught the day before.
Dinner at ‘home’ on the terrace tonight and watching the sunset over the port with a glass of wine in hand while the kids were inside quietly engrossed in a Barbie movie on the ipad….was as close to heaven as you can get at the moment!
Still no internet. I am not positive about it being fixed before we leave here on Saturday….things seem to move at a much slower pace than at home – which is lovely if you are on holiday, but surely the people who work here need to be a bit more efficient!!! I am writing the blog as a word document at the moment, just so that I don’t forget anything. My apologies if there are any dedicated people (beside family members!) who are checking this blog on a regular basis and have missed our postings….trust me – it isn’t my fault!!
WEDNESDAY 5TH SEPTEMBER
On Wednesday – the weather was cloudy and somewhat rainy (off and on)….so we jumped in the car to explore the island a bit more. Brač island isn’t that big – although not tiny either (I think it might be the biggest Croatian island). To drive from one end to the other would take just over an hour (in the ‘long ‘ axis). It would be much quicker of course if you could drive faster than 40km/hr….but the streets are so narrow that it just isn’t safe to drive much faster.
Firstly we went to the town of Milna – which is on the opposite side of the island to Splitska. It is a bigger port town (by now you have probably figured that most of the villages on the island are on the coast….in the middle of the island it is a bit like an alien planet – with piles of rocks and not much else!) and is very pretty. I am not sure what the history of the town is (I would check if I had internet access – grrrrr) but there were a lot of buildings that were ‘shells’…just walls with nothing inside. Not sure if they had been bombed or things in the war or just fallen apart through neglect and lack of money. A lot of these buildings were right on the waterfront so it seemed strange that these buildings had gone to ruin.
Milna village...
The next town we visited was Sutivan, which is on the same side of the island as Splitska. Again, a pretty little port town. I think perhaps Splitska is the smallest of the port towns – which gives it an unique character. The rain started again briefly so we stopped in Sutivan for lunch before heading back to Splitska to hang out at home out of the rain.
Sutivan village....
The sunshine came out just in time for “wine o’clock”….or Italian Spumanti o’clock (plus a gin and tonic chaser)….I must admit I do love sitting on our terrace watching the boats sailing between the mainland and the island and watching the happenings around our little port in Splitska.
We wandered down to the port for dinner and enjoyed a relaxed meal in the company of a cute little cat….
THURSDAY 6TH SEPTEMBER
Thursday’s weather didn’t seem promising….rain and more rain in the early morning. But by late morning it had started to clear so we jumped in the car and headed out again to explore the island. We went to the village (again another port) called Pučišća. Again – a lovely little town. We found a nice café to have lunch in and managed to get some wifi access (where I sent out a message on the blog site about our internet issues). I also used the opportunity to book some accommodation for Saturday night when we leave Brač.
Pučišća village
Watching the fish
A "Hamilton South Public" of fish.....
In Pučišća we also saw a school for cutting and shaping the famous Brac stone. There were about 4 large ships that are obviously backpacker accommodation (oh for the days when we were young and could spend weeks floating around on a boat…..why didn’t I take the chance and do it then? - too busy trying to get a career I guess!!).
The "Brač stone" school....
One of the school's designs.
Another afternoon gin and tonic on the terrace at home while the girls swam around in the spa and Mum tested out the sauna….
Shane also found some cycling gear in a shop in Supetar this afternoon. Two pairs of cycling sunglasses and a cycling shirt all for about $40....he was excited to say the least!!
It is a very relaxing place. I am not sure I could live here – it is probably TOO slow for me to live permanently…and certainly not a place that holds many opportunities for kids. It is interesting to think about how islands like this will survive in the future. I can’t imagine generation Y will be too interested in living the island life (besides in the summer) – although there seemed to be quite a lot of younger boys in the stone cutting school.
Tomorrow is supposed to be a hot, sunny day so we plan to drive to the other side of the island to a town called Bol which apparently has a world famous beach (and about the only one in Croatia with actual ‘sand’)…..
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