Our New Home Away From Home: Makarska Croatia and a Weekend in Brač

“A child on a farm sees a plane fly overhead and dreams of a faraway place. A traveller on the plane sees the farmhouse… and thinks of home.” – Carl Burns.

I can hardly believe that we arrived in Croatia a month ago today, I have been slow with my blogging I must say. This leg of our journey was planned to be three months of rest and relaxation after our nine week stint on the road through Europe. The closer it came the more we looked forward to it, it was absolutely time to rest our weary travel legs.



Makarska

But I admit this post is very difficult to write and I have been tossing around glossing it over but think that it needs a brief mention and then we move on. Tragically on Julian's birthday the kids and I were witness to the death of a young child, something that will be with me forever and I am grateful that I reacted quick enough that our kids saw nothing.

Sumartin, Brač

After this it took awhile for me to feel like blogging again but thankfully I still had much of our Italian adventure to share and so until today I have not looked back on these photos. However I have found Croatia to be an absolute paradise and while I doubt I would return to Bol, for this reason alone, I really should share its beauty with you.

Brač

 I am terribly sorry if I have upset anyone by sharing this, however one day I intend to have my blog printed as a keepsake for myself and some memories should not be glossed over. And so down to the business at hand, our beautiful new home  - Croatia.

Our travels in Croatia take on a completely different flavour as, like our time in the UK, we are "living" here rather than simply being tourists. Six years ago Rob's father passed away leaving property in Croatia, his land of birth, to the family. This means we have a home to live in, the kids can spread themselves out and make themselves at home and we can get down to some serious home schooling.

Our home is in a town called Makarska, just over an hour by bus south of Split. When we arrived in Split on a flight from Rome we were met by one of Rob's many cousins. Having Croatian family means that we have been able to see the real Croatia, a place where people will drop everything and drive for hours, or whip up a banquet with no notice just because they have heard that you are in town. The cousin who met us drove us home and then had a two hour drive back afterwards, and there was no way he would listen when we offered to catch the bus.

And so we arrived in beautiful Makarska and found in one town many of the highlights of Europe in one small place, a beautiful cobblestoned medieval town, stunning waterfront promenade with affordable cafes with delicious food and daily markets selling everything from fresh produce to inflatable toys for the kids to use at the lovely, though pebbly, beach.

We planned our arrival in Croatia to miss the peak heat of summer but we very lucky to get a few warm days during a year that they say summer never really arrived. It couldn't have been more perfect for someone like me who prefers mild weather to stinking hot summer.

Sumartin, Brač

After only two nights, just enough time to unpack our things, we hopped on the boat over to Brač for a celebration weekend, our tenth wedding anniversary and Julian's birthday. While it is not the sort of holiday we would typically take we booked an all inclusive weekend away at the Bluesun Bonica in Bol. The kids were thrilled with the idea of staying at the hotel for five meals a day and only dragging themselves from the dining room, to go the pool or the beach nearby.

Bol, Brač

I was fairly easy to get to Brač, we were able to catch a ferry from Makarska to Sumartin and then a taxi driver gathered seven people, including us, into his minivan and we shared the affordable taxi fare to Bol.

The hotel was perfect for a relaxing weekend and Brač is very beautiful. The beach at Slatni Rat was packed with people for the very good reason that it is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.

 The cape or sandbank juts out into the Adriatic and at the whim of the tides it changes its position. The kids really enjoyed spending an hour on a huge inflatable playground in the water with Rob one morning. I was quite contented to find a shady spot and enjoyed watching their antics.

Our hotel had bikes available for us to use so Emma and Julian both borrowed a bike and rode to Slatni Rat, of course Julian can not ride a bike yet so this meant Rob holding him while he was learning and then me riding a kids bike when the boys had had enough.

Our little man, now five, had a fabulous birthday morning, he enjoyed opening his presents that we had managed to hide and spent the morning in the pool. One of our cousins, who was staying in their holiday home an hour away in Supetar, even popped in for a visit

In the afternoon the kids spent some time on the bungee trampolines as well as regular ones and had  a terrific time. We even walked into town which made a nice walk along the promenade, where we saw plenty of boats out enjoying the beautiful water and we enjoyed the fresh air on a lovely mild day.

At dinner time we had organised a beautiful birthday cake to be brought over to our table complete with candles. As his cake was so large we walked around the restaurant offering cake to people so it wouldn't go to waste, which meant Julian received many happy birthday wishes.

And it is there that we leave Brač with many many more adventures in Croatia still to share with you. Having gotten past this post, one I had been dreading, in the very near future I shall tell you all about stunning Plitvička jezera, the Istrian Peninsula, Zagreb, Split and even a week we managed to fit in in Budapest. So much for relaxing at home! At least we are now home and settling in for two months here in Makarska..bliss!