Bol, Brač Island

Hayden & Andrea’s choice to meet up with us was to have a beach holiday and their research indicated that the island of Brač had the best beaches.

We choose to stay in the village of Bol on the south of Brač Island and booked a self catering apartment.  Once again, research indicated it had a beautiful beach called Zlatni Rat.  The beach is a little out of town so the first day we took the tourist train there and caught the boat taxi back.  We soon found that it was an easy walk along a lovely, shady, paved path decorated with interesting sculptures.

For us Australians, a European beach is quite a change.

  • Firstly, they are often stone, or in this case pebble – not kind to the feet but the water is beautifully clear.
  • Secondly, they are crowded – more bodies per square metre than you can imagine.  It is nothing to wind around and step over other dedicated sun seekers to cover the 10 metres to the water.
  • Thirdly, they are serviced.  Beach chairs and umbrellas are available to hire and food stalls and cafes create a continuous line in the trees behind the sun bathers – we could buy fruit salad, crepes, sandwiches, hamburgers and coffee or simply sit and enjoy a cold beer.
  • Lastly, there is little tide in the Mediterranean and less in the Adriatic, so you grab your spot on the beach and you don’t need to move as the water laps around your feet.

The water is more salty and more buoyant, so it is easy to float out of your depth and enjoy a little solitude away from the madding crowds on the beach.

Lots of water sports are on offer – sailing, parasailing, paragliding, windsurfing, kayaking, peddalo-ing and all types of floating devices towed behind boats.

On our last day we drove to the north of the island to “the sandy beach”.  The description was enticing:

Lovrečina is a beautiful inlet set near Postira with a long sandy beach different from all the pebbly beaches on the island of Brač.

Unlike other beaches, it was shallow – a perfect spot for young families.  The sandy beach was narrow and not as long as our Hampton doggy beach.  Rocks were just centimetres underneath the sand.  Trees added shade to the beach which was supplemented by a concrete edge running around the cliff that helped form the bay.  This beach was also crowded, not only with young families, but teenagers taking advantage of the shallow water to play handball.

I know I will enjoy my next visit to an Australian beach.