Magical Makarska

Erik is the class teacher for the 4.AP class, and he had invited us to go on a class trip with them to Poland a year ago in June.  We had already made other plans so didn't go along that time, but Erik told us to "save the date" for this June's class trip to the beach in Croatia.  We had to look it up on a map, so just in case our readers don't know the geography, this shows where we went.  We live up above the final "A" in SLOVAKIA on the map, near the Polish border to the north.  

Our journey took us down through Slovakia, then through Hungary via Budapest, and then  all the way through Croatia to just south of Split, which is shown on the map.  We were on the Adriatic Sea in Makarska for a stay at the beach.  So many Slovaks go on holiday trips here, that they refer to Croatia as "The Slovak Sea"!!  It's a popular tourist destination.  

At one of our many rest stops on the road, waiting to get back on the bus.  

We stopped in Budapest for a while for a historical tour of a small part of the city.  We had this beautiful view of the castle area across the Danube in Pest.  

The Parliament building on the Buda side of the river was impressive all lit up at night.  

The guys in front of the Parliament building --- Erik, Tim, Alex, Min'o

This is the first science academy built in Hungary.

St. Stephen's Basilica in Budapest. 

We happened to walk by the American Embassy, flying the Red, White, and Blue!!     :-)

This picture didn't show up too well, but there were hundreds, maybe thousands of people on this square all watching a World Cup soccer match on an enormous big screen TV. There were huge roars from the crowd off and on.  They LOVE their 'futbal' here!!   

We finally arrived at Makarska after our all-night bus ride, and it was great being at the beach in the warm sunshine.  

The balcony outside our room was draped in beautiful purple flowers. 

The mountains were right behind Makarska, and there were palm trees and tropical flowers and bushes blooming everywhere.  

Makarska is tucked into a lovely natural harbor which is full of many tourist vessels and fishing boats.  

We took a walk through the old section of Makarska and saw many old stone buildings.  

This is St. Mark's church on the old square in Makarska.  

More scenes from our walk along the harbor.  The scenery, with the mountains so near to the sea, was beautiful!  

Sunset over the Adriatic

We enjoyed watching the sunset on a warm summer evening in Croatia!  

On our first full day, three of our students went with us on a boat excursion to two of the islands off the coast of Croatia.  

Heading out of the Makarska harbor, sheltered by two peninsulas, one on each side.  (Notice the red pillar on the right peninsula….well up the hill from that you can just barely see a statue of St. Peter that you'll see in later pictures when we hiked up that way another day.) 

Looking back to the harbor we just left, on our way to the island of Hvar.  (You can see the statue of St. Peter better from here, about at the center of the photo.)  

We went to Jelsa first (on the island of Hvar, below), and then Bol (on the island of Brač, above).

Heading into the scenic harbor at Jelsa.

Tim and I took off exploring Jelsa, first heading up to check out the church behind Tim.  

Jelsa (and the other historic parts of the towns we saw in Croatia) had many stone buildings with green shuttered windows and red tile roofs.  

Interior of the Church of St. Mary in Jelsa

The Church of St. Mary, originating in the 13th century

Just hanging around in the park at Jelsa --- on yet another "Magical Day" in Croatia!!  

The Croatian flag flying on the white stone town hall building in Jelsa

Another scene in Jelsa, with the Croatian flag, old buildings, and St. Mary's steeple.

We wandered through narrow stone streets and between houses that must have been there for centuries.  People still live in most of them from what we could see. 

This tiny octagonal church is St. John's, built in this square, which is the best preserved  area of Renaissance/Baroque Jelsa.  

Our girls, Marcela, Saška, and Nikola, ready to re-board our boat.

It was a warm day, but it got a little windy on the boat when we were underway.  We had a delicious lunch on board with fresh fish, salad, and bread.  

Heading towards Bol, on the island of Brač.  An interesting historical fact which we found out about on our trip:  Pure white limestone for the White House came from the quarries near Pucisca on Brač, one of the largest of the Adriatic islands.  How cool is that?  

The water in the harbor was a beautiful aqua color, which was so pretty with the white stone buildings, some with purple flowers growing on vines up the sides.  

Looking down the shoreline on Brač

We started wandering around this seaside town, and we found this sign which explains about a unique landmark here.  

It's a house within a house - literally - because a couple of wealthy brothers wanted to build a big house on this scenic hillside location above the harbor.  But a poorer family already had a smaller house there, and they wouldn't sell.  So the brothers bought the land surrounding the house and built the exterior walls of their house completely around the smaller house!  

We were fascinated as we peered through the windows and doors of the big house.  Here's a balcony on the small house through the window.  

And the corner of the smaller house inside the main gates to the big house.  

I held the camera inside the gates to get this picture of the smaller house with the walls around it.  Can you imagine living in this house while the 3-story walls were being built all around you??  

This is the outside of the bigger house, which was never completed after all.  The two wealthy brothers died in a shipwreck while bringing back wood to complete the house.  

The Small Church of St. Anthony, next to another stone building.  

These historic marker signs were really helpful as we wandered around the islands.  

The interior of the Small Church of St. Anthony

Bol was such a beautiful tropical paradise!  And it was neat that these ancient buildings were almost all being used for businesses and residences.  

Next, we walked all the way to the end of the island, to the famous "Golden Horn" beach, which evidently shifts in shape depending on the tides. (As seen from aerial views)

This looked like a super fun water play area!!  People were having a great time playing on the apparatus!!  

The popular Golden Horn beach is a peninsula out into the Adriatic, and it was full of people!  We ended up taking a ferry boat like the one here, back to where our boat was docked in the harbor.  We didn't sunbathe or get in the water here, just walked around the town and the island.  

The other side of the Golden Horn beach was a little windier, so it wasn't as crowded.  

Back in scenic Makarska after our wonderful boat trip!  

Our accommodations came with half board, meaning breakfast and supper, so we enjoyed our own light lunches of fresh bakery bread, delicious cheese, and fruits, out on our balcony each day.  

We even had a view of the sea from our balcony - it was so relaxing to have lunch or read out on the balcony!  Our room had a mini-kitchen with fridge, stovetop, sink, and plenty of dishes etc., which was nice.

Tim ready to head to the beach after lunch.  This is looking out the back side of our apartment at the mountains.  Some of our students stayed in the building behind Tim.  

Another view from our balcony, looking out at the island of Hvar, and the lighthouse next to the harbor in the center.

One morning we took a hike out onto one of the two peninsulas that surround the harbor.  St. Peter is evidently the patron saint around here.  

Tim is awesome about standing next to statues, in the same pose as the statue!!   :-) 

Looking back over the harbor and Makarska, from up on the hill with St. Peter's statue.  

O.K., we had to do it - here's another picture of me climbing up to the highest rocky point for a picture.  

And looking down at the sea below the rocks was gorgeous!  

The oldest church in the area was originally built here in the 6th century.  

The Church of St. Peter, high atop the same peninsula as the statue.  

The lighthouse that was shown earlier looking from our balcony.

We stopped for a cup of hot tea at one of the many seaside cafés after our morning walk. During the afternoons we would go down to the beach to lay out in the sun (or the shade), and then we'd swim in the sea for a while.  

This is where we ate our breakfasts and suppers, outside as a group.  In addition to our students, Erik invited other people along in order to fill up the bus to help with costs, so we had several families with kids --- they were all so much fun!!  Patrik (next to me) was the other official school chaperone, and he brought his family along too.  

Sunday night our whole group walked outside of town to an outdoor Mass.  It's hard to see, but at the crown of the green hill, there are rocks with three white crosses.  This was on the way to where we went to Mass.  

The guy taking the photo for me didn't wait until everyone was looking.  And now you see why I like to take the photos myself!!!   LOL!!    :-)   These are the stairs leading up to the main worship area at the Holy Mother of God of Lourdes church.  

Still not a perfect picture, but so it goes!  This is our group of students in front of the outdoor 'church' we attended, carved out of the rock hillside.  

Here is the whole group again, on the grounds of the church.  Only a couple of the students and Erik stayed with us for Mass, but at least they all got there for pictures!  

The altar area was actually a cave into the side of the mountain.  Obviously, the Mass was in Croatian, so we didn't understand the sermon, but it was a very peaceful time of prayer and contemplation during this worship service.  

After mass, we climbed the hill above the church for more views of the Adriatic below.  

The grounds of the Holy Mother of God of Lourdes were really beautiful.  The steps leading to the worship area are on the left side.  There are several other altar/worship areas on the grounds, so that different groups of people or busloads of tourists on religious pilgrimages can have their own masses simultaneously.   

On the way back from Mass, I saw these exotic flowers on a tree/bush.

Monday was our last day in Croatia, and we went on another hike to the far peninsula, where we had views of our previous hike location.  The spot where my picture was taken earlier was on the rock cliff at the center of the picture, above the boat.   :-)  

On the way back from our hike, we spotted this steeple, so we decided to check it out, expecting another church.  

We were surprised to enter a seashell museum at the base of the building connected to the tower.  There was a sweet Franciscan nun there who explained that this was a Franciscan monastery, and one of the priests (long ago) started collecting and trading seashells from all over the world.  His collection eventually became the museum.  

The seashells were amazing!  We had heard there was a great seashell museum in town, but we had no idea we'd find it in what we expected to be a church!!  

Some of the shells were enormous, very colorful, oddly shaped, or very unusual in some way.  The variety was incredible.  

The nun took a picture for us in the courtyard of the original monastery.  She spoke wonderful English, by the way!    

There is a newer church in front of the monastery.

The church of St. Francis, on the grounds of the Franciscan monastery.  

The monastery has been around for hundreds of years.  

For our last lunch in Makarska, we ate at a restaurant and enjoyed fresh fish - yum!  We also picked up groceries for our supper and breakfast on the bus during the return trip.  

One of the parks along the seaside restaurant and shopping area.  

We can certainly see why Makarska is such a popular tourist destination, with the mountains almost next to the sea.  

This is one of the areas where we swam in the afternoons.  The water is so clear and blue!  

Our 4.AP students and EGJT teachers on the beach for one last group photo before getting on the bus about 6:00 p.m. Monday night.   

The beach is rocky, but Erik brought some foam mats for us to use under our towels, and we wore surf shoes, so it was no problem at all.  In fact, it was kind of nice not having sand in our towels, clothes, shoes, beach bags, etc. etc. etc.!!  

Our last walk up the hill from the beach, heading for our waiting bus!  

We drove straight through with only brief rest stops on the way home, so it was 'only' a 16 hour ride, instead of the 20 hours on the way to Croatia.  We got back to school before lunch, so we had time to go to our flat for a quick shower and a couple loads of laundry before our 1:30 staff meeting at school.  I even had time to bake chocolate chip bars to take to our end-of-the-year church choir party that night!  But that will have to wait for the next blog post.  This one has been quite long enough!!  ;-)   But we hope you enjoyed sharing in our school trip to Croatia!!