The weather was nicely overcast this morning, a bit cooler (only 27 degrees) after a heavy downfall over night, so I decided that an adventure was in order. I wandered into town for the morning caffeine fix, checked out the notice board for the ferries to Brac and then organized a picnic for myself.

The 12.30 ferry (trajekt) left on the dot (things seem casual here, but are actually pretty punctual when it comes to departure times). There is a car ferry that runs between Makarska and Brac (Sumatin only) four times a day. Of course I didn’t read the timetable to the bottom of the page and was planning to return on the 3.30 ferry but the fact that the last ferry on a Sunday was at 6, not 3.30 wasn’t fatal! Although, to be honest, I had seen all there was to see by 3.30.

So, Brac (and that’s a ‘ch’ on the ‘c’). It is an hour ferry ride, is the largest island in Central Dalmatia, boasts over 2700 sunshine hours a year, produces some wine, olive oil, figs, almonds and sour cherries, but the main export is the white stone that is still quarried and exported. Yes, the White House is made from Brac’s lustrous white stone, and so is the Diocletian Palace in Split (remember, we went there the day that it snowed).

The roads leading away from the village a bounded by the most amazing rock walls – and in the fields beyond the walls are piles of the same stones. The thing is that to prepare the land to plant olive trees or any other trees, you have to get rid of the stones to get to the soil – then you have piles of stones, so you make walls to get rid of the piles of stones –all back breaking stuff, and mainly done by the women.

Sumatin, the village that we visited today, is described as sleepy – well, I think that everyone must have been asleep – I spotted seven local people, and two of those were in the café that served me lunch and the other three were on the beach swimming. The town is not old and has more modern houses than I have seen – the style of house and the roof-lines are quite different. I pointed this out to the couple that joined me for lunch, a Finnish couple, he being a construction engineer of some sort, and he hadn’t noticed. I think I have ATD (attention to detail).

I mean seriously, you would have noticed that they look different – look at them.

The church (Sv Martin) was open – and just look at it! Check out the ceiling and the altar!

The Romans were in Brac in 167 BC, Slavs settled the island in the 9th Century, Venetians ruled in 1420-1797, the plague ruled for a while, followed by Napolean, then the Austrians, the Germans did a bit of damage during WW2 (actually they burnt, looted, and murdered the villagers, didn’t want to understate that). But as I say, it is a pretty sleepy place at this end of the island, but apparently bustling with tourists at the Cool End.

Sumatin is not the Cool End of the island, and unfortunately, there is a conspiracy to make sure that unless you have a car, you cannot get to the Cool End from Makarska easily. There are two connecting buses – one before the morning ferry arrives, and one at 4.30 in the afternoon. Zlatni Rat, the iconic beach at Bol is at the Cool End of the island – and to get there you need to go to Supetar from Split. And so I shall, in due course. I’ll let you know when I do.

Check out those names – Sumatin (St Martin), Supetar (St Peter) – a bit of local cleverness.
Arrived back to the evening promenade – oh, I love it!

Oh and by the way, I know you were wondering, but Danica and Samuel are now in Rome – I will see them in four days in Dubrovnik – you can come with me on the bus!