Makarska, Croatia

July 30 - August 1, 2010

 There are 34 pictures here.

I took the ferry from Prvič to Šibenik, and then the bus to Makarska. I got to be pretty good and figuring out ferry, bus, and train schedules, as most of them are on the internet.

Makarska is a pretty port town, with a limestone center. It is backed by Mt. Biokovo (1,762 m) and Vošac Peak (1,422 m). There is a long pebbly town beach. the town is favored by tourists from neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina. I was there during high season, so there were a lot of people there. 

I stayed at Hotel Makarska for two nights. There were two things to do here. One was to go hiking and the other was to swim. I did both.

C001 Looking at Vošac Peak from the town.

I decided to hike up this mountain, and made it to the top solid-looking row of trees. This was my big activity for this town.

C002  

It rained in the morning, so I didn’t get started until the afternoon.

The start through town. C003     C004 

There were lots of uphill roads at the beginning.

C005      C006      C007

C008 A sign.

 C009 My destination.

The path starts to turn rocky. Along the way were little “bull’s eye” markers and red lines to let you know that you were on the path.

C010      C011

The rocks made for challenging hiking.

C012      C013      C014

It got a little smoother through the first little forest of trees.

C015      C016      C017

 Now it’s rocky again. As I climbed, I sometimes wondered how I would get back down, given that my left knee is not at 100% peak performance. These rocky paths are difficult to walk on.

C018      C019  

There were lots of wildflowers. These big blue ones were most unusual.

C020      C021      C022 

C023      C024      C025      C026

 Here are scenes along the way looking down at the town and the Adriatic Sea.

C027      C028      C029  

C030 A part of the mountain.

The clouds started coming in so I decided to stop and go back down. Besides, (foolishly) I did not bring enough water.

C031

C032 Looking down from as far as I went.

The next day was a beautiful day. I walked around to get my sore leg muscles back in action again.

In the morning I saw many people walking to the beach, and so I joined them. It was a pebble beach and was very crowded. It was about one km wide, so I swam the width, practicing what I had been taught the week before. I felt really good. I saw one woman topless. People here (and in most of Europe, I understand) don’t make a big deal out of it like people in the U.S. do. The beach was very touristy, with lots of stalls and restaurants.

C033      C034  

My next destination was Mostar, in the country of Bosnia and Hercegovina.

That's all for Makarska.