Colin: Today we went on an excursion to the Biokovo Nature Park (Nature Parks in Croatia are distinguished from National Parks in that there are logging, herding, and hunting activities allowed in the former, but not the latter). Biokovo (pronounced Bee-OH-ko-vo) is 196 km² in area and ranges from 200m to 1,762m above sea level. It is known for its biodiversity and the cultural significance of its small villages and highland pastures with semi-permanent stone shepard houses. Biovoko plays an important part in the history of the Makarska region. In 1962 the region was hit by a magnitude 6.2 earthquake that destroyed many of the high mountain villages causing much of the remaining population to migrate to the coastal area and give up their herding lifestyle for one of fishing and eventually tourism. War, natural disasters, and economic betterment are all majority reasons for populations to migrate and we have seen examples of all three of these as we have traveled through Croatia.
Biokovo, like Plitvice Lakes, is an important natural wonder that may form a likely economic draw that will increase tourism with closer EU integration. However, as with all such endeavors, a careful balance must be struck between accessibility, marketability, and sustainability. Hopefully this can be achieved.
Our traditional Dalmatian dinner night at Topici (pronounced Too-PEE-Chee), which is generally held on the last Sunday we are in Makarska, was held tonight because of weather concerns (big surprise there, huh?). Everyone dressed in their best (see the two pics in the final post) and had a wonderful night full of food, drink, song, and dance in an "almost" traditional Dalmatian style. I say almost traditional since a couple of the more musically inclined members of our party (who had been dying for weeks to get their hands on a guitar) borrowed one from the traditional band and proceeded to lead us in a "sing-along" of current (and not so current) popular American songs to the great amusement of everyone including the band!
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