Day 22 -- Day Off #2

Colin: Our second day off (and our last full day on the Makarskan Riviera) gave me a full day on my own to go explore the coast on foot from Makarska to Brela (a distance of about 11 km or 6.8 miles each way). This allowed me to see many of the things that we could not have seen if we were in a larger group. One of my first observations was that, unlike the pebble beaches at Makarska or Bol, there actually are some smaller, less well know, beaches that actually have sand on them on the Dalmatian Coast!

The other chief finding was that there are many former socialist era towns and villages that were either "Worker's Paradise" resorts or some other form of subsidized industry that are no longer viable under the transitional economy that Croatia now has. The town of Bratus (pop. 50) has an abandoned Yugoslav Army Retreat, and even though the small beach there is beautiful, and the infrastructure exists, the facilities and the town itself are in decline. The town of Promajna (pop. 250) has found a way to re-purpose itself with a small boat drydock industry. Baska Voda (pop. 2,900) and Brela (pop. 1,800) are smaller than Makarska (pop. 13,800) but are much more desirable as small, exclusive 'get away' locations. The hotels and restaurants are not as large as Makarska but the beaches are nicer (if smaller and more exclusive) and I am sure the accommodations are more expensive.

Baska Voda (pronounced Bash-Kuh Vo-Duh) was the scene of a major WWII landing in 1944 by the 12th Dalmatian Partisan Brigade in their push to liberate Split from the control of the Nazis and their Croat Ustasha allies. There was a monument to this that I discovered on my trek, but honestly, these are the pieces of locally important history that make up the legacy of a people. But if you are from another country, you probably would never know it about unless you went there...

The coastal "trail" is a path that goes through the coastal pine forests, rocky cliff faces and dirt tracks as well as the pebble beaches and paved "rivas" of the waterfronts of the towns. It was an adventure to explore and I made it 3/4 of the way back before the heavens opened up (rain in Croatia no longer surprises me...) and I was drenched by the time I got back, looking like a drowned rat, but happy that I had gone.

Apparently the majority of the rest of the group spent a relaxing day at the beach in Makarska laying out, renting paddle boats and playing in the water until the rain came in. After the storm blew out (a result in a change of the wind patterns from the southern "Yugo" wind to the northern "Bura" wind), we were left with the clearest weather (though windy and somewhat cool) that we had seen on our entire trip, and the most beautiful of sunset imaginable. (Ben - to the left is a picture of what the clouds look like when the 2 winds collide and push the storms away. This lead to the clearest weather we saw on the entire trip)

Ben: What Colin said is correct, the majority of us did spend part of the day relaxing at the beach, until the heavens opened up and the wind kicked in. At that point, we all decided to head back to the apartments and spend some quality time cleaning up and packing our suitcases. The rains eventually stopped, and Colin was not exaggerating when he said it was the clearest weather we had seen on the trip. The view was absolutely breathtaking. Some of the group decided to do a little cooking for dinner, but for the rest of us, we decided the weather was too beautiful to pass up. So, we opted to eat dinner at a nice little restaurant on the beach. We left just before sunset, and on our way, the boys decided to stop for a nice, pensive-photo op. This was the perfect sunset to end our stay in Makarska.