Category: Croatia

Prižba, Korčula

Author: Mariza

12 July

An ink blue ocean, dotted with little islands – that is the view from our apartment in Prižba on the island of Korčula, Croatia. Sitting on the porch drinking in this view became the main activity for four days. Combine this with 30kn (6 Aussie dollar) locally produced red wine and you’ve got it made.

I have to confess something here. After our incredible experience in the tiny village of Račišće, we were disappointed at first. Shameful, I know. Here we are in paradise and finding our hearts left behind in an old stone village.

We did, however, find a space in our full hearts for this richer, more modern haven rather quickly. It is truly beautiful and the ocean spectacular. We swam, played pine cone cricket and kayaked around the little Adriatic islands. And we once again met beautiful people.

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Our hosts, Daniel and Katiča are the nicest, warmest people. The kind you instantly want to be friends with. We had lovely conversations and Daniel took Jarik and Ruzow out fishing on his boat. A huge highlight for my beautiful boy! He was chatterboxing on a total high for over an hour upon returning. So wonderful to see. My personal highlight was having coffee on the stairs overlooking the ocean followed by a final sunset swim and chat with Katiča. I can’t believe we’re leaving early tomorrow morning.

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Our last Prižba dinner was a feast consisting of fish we bought from a local fisherman after our morning run. Jarik and the kids did a fabulous job and had loads of fun cleaning and preparing it.

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As I watch the little islands disappear as darkness drives out the pinkish blue sky, my heart is grateful. The first bright stars are already appearing. Soon the moon will hang over the ocean too. I am so very blessed.

– Mariza –

 

 

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Beautiful Račišće

Author: Kali

After our bundu-bashing, we were all exhausted and just wanted to throw our bags down and go for a swim. A friendly couple, Martin and Danke, warmly welcomed us with sweet pastries, traditional homemade wine, grappa and a special homemade juice to our accommodation. Having entered Račišće in such a horrible way, I was so thankful the town and our apartment was so wonderful and beautiful.

 

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Finally arriving after over 4 hours of struggles…

 

Our apartment was on the top level of an old 17th century stone block building. It was literally 10m from the ocean. Račišće is one of the smallest and oldest villages on the island of Korčula, and only has around 30 homes, 2 restaurants/cafés and a lovely old church. It is surrounded by a beautiful little cove and small harbour with clear, calm ocean water. From our balcony, you could even see the rocky harbour bottom.

All the beaches and shores are filled with smooth, round pebbles and rocks. No sand to get into everything. It was heaven on earth! (Hey Kate, you would love these beaches.) The sea water was very salty, but absolutely gorgeous! There is no sand in the water, so it is crystal clear and a delight to swim in. It is so refreshing and inviting, you can’t stop yourself from plunging in.

We spent our time swimming and floating around the three small beaches, or jumping off the harbour wall. Jumping off the harbour wall was so much fun. It is about 3m high and drops down sharply into the clear, cool, blue water, and we would do all kinds of tricks whilst jumping off. The local children would appear every afternoon to swim and jump off the wall, showing the few tourists how its done. It was very funny to watch them.

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Every hour the big old church bell would chime. Chiming for the day would start with a full minute of constant and loud ringing (at 6am!), and would end the day the same (10pm). A few times I couldn’t help but chuckle, imagining someone swinging on the bell cord. 😁

There is a small boule court where the old men go to play boule (bocce, pentanque) with a few beers, every evening. Later, they would head to the bar and start singing loudly, with the whole town hearing their traditional clappa singing.

The one morning, we decided to run to a little beach. After about 2km, we came to a desolate little cove that had a rock house with a garden built on its shore. We were only planning a quick swim, but having fallen in love with the pristine water and white pebbly beach, we spent more than 2 hours in the water. We simply couldn’t tear ourselves away. Also, lucky for us, someone had left two pairs of goggles on the beach. Us four children took turns gazing around, amazed at the beauty that were beneath us.

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I have lived near some of the best and most beautiful surfing beaches in the world and I’ve snorkelled on the Great Barrier Reef, but this little town of Račišće with its glorious water, has stolen my heart. It is most definitely my favourite costal place in all the world.

We spent beautiful sunsets on our balcony, looking out over our stunning surroundings, and having precious conversations over a bottle of Martin’s homemade wine and freshly baked bread. I will never forget these special times!

 

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Lovely times with some very dear friends…

 

I am so grateful for the three days we had here. It would always be too short in this amazing place. What a privilege to have stayed here! ❤️😄

Until next time,
– Kali –

 

 

 

 

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Limericks by the Sea

Author: Eulain

Limericks by the Sea

Little islands dot the sea,

People are swimming happily.

They throw their nets out,

The boats are swaying all about.

The sunset as pink as could be.

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A stone house village ever so small,

Clear blue water around it all.

Drinking beers the old men play,

Boules near the end of the day.

I’m jumping off the harbour wall.

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Pinecone cricket is loads of fun,

It makes a person really run.

Hit the pinecone with all your might,

Make it fly  out of sight.

Now the pinecone cricket is done.

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A little village called…

Author: Eulain

After the “Stroll on the invisible path” we found ourselves on a narrow paved road. We walked on it for about fifteen minutes before we entered a small village called Račišće . It had about thirty houses. We immediately looked for our place. It was not hard to find because there were only twelve homes on the water, and one of them was ours.

We were at number 107. There were no streets, it was that small that each house just had a number. We dropped our bags, slipped into our togs and jumped into the clear blue sea. It was quite hard to get to the water because the whole beach was made out of rocks.

The next day Ruzow and I went to the mini market to go get some breakfast. I noticed a funny car. It had red squares painted all over and it had a doll stuck to the front! After breakfast we went to the beach and for the rest of our stay that is where we spent the most of our time.

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– Eulain –

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Račišće – My Favourite Place on Earth

Author: Mariza

12 July

We found it. Our retirement village. Račišće, a tiny sea side speck of a place on the Croatian island of Korčula.

Not even our way too eventful journey to this little town could dampen our instant besottedness with it. This is where we would love to spend the rest of our days.

Over the past few days, Jarik and I have devised all sorts of plans to acquire property and make a way to live here, even with four school aged hockey/soccer/rugby/cricket/tennis/anything sport related crazy children in tow. This place is really THAT amazing. Our kids feel very rooted in Brisbane, Australia. Us parents, we do too, and we don’t. I think we’ve been uprooted enough times to make us realise we could carve out a fabulous home anywhere on the planet. And our hearts have been expanded enough to realise there will always be room for more precious people. We know that every relationship enriches us and provides us with an opportunity to feel and to love and to share. And will make our family expand in the most wonderful way.

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We are daydreaming, yes. But we’re also having so many reality checks along the way. We are in the privileged position to be able to settle and make a living (in some places less glamorous than others) almost anywhere in the world. How incredible is that?! We could even have an impact. Help transform an entire community.

Račišće is the most beautiful, charming little village I have ever seen. Behind it lies lush green hills and in front of it the clearest, bluest, most beautiful ocean. All the buildings are built out of stone or cleverly covered in stone facades. All the roofs are the same colour. The entire village overlooks the beautiful bay, containing a small harbour full of lovely little boats. In the distance is the mainland.

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Our apartment is smack bang in the middle of the village, front row, right on the water and on the third floor. We have a balcony the entire length of the place. From every bed in the three bedrooms, opening onto the balcony, you have an ocean view. STUNNING!!

Our hosts, Martin and Danka, are the kindest, friendliest, most wonderful people. Family straight away. We start our relationship around a table in their backyard with homemade grappa and sherry.

We meet another Croatian family on our first night. They have been vacationing here for the past eight years. We can totally see why. We will most definitely join them some time in the future.

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I think every place after this will be a disappointment. It has been and is an absolute dream come true. I will forever treasure the precious memories created here with my family. Swimming in the sea of glass, jumping from the harbour wall, discovering hidden limestone beaches. Drinking in sunrises and sunsets in breathtakingly beautiful settings. I have totally lost my heart.

– Mariza –

 

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Bundu Bashing in Korčula

Author: Kali & Jarik

Kali: We were moving from a small town called Omiš, just out of Split, to one of the islands, Korčula. We took a ferry ride from Split to a tiny town on the island. From there we took a public bus. The driver was very unfriendly, and said he didn’t even know of the little town we were heading to, called Račišće. [Ra-chi-che]

Jarik: Thus far on our adventure, we have had a number of truly memorable travel experiences. This turned out to be one of them. We were supposed to get an Uber from our apartment in Omiš to Makarska, a town 20km further south along the coast. From there we were to catch a ferry to the island of Korčula. From Korčula Town, a regular local bus service could take us to our destination. It was all very straight forward. However, Uber dried up in Omiš; we eventually took a bus north to Split;  got a much longer ferry ride to Vela Luka (on the other side of Korčula island) and boarded a bus not really going to where we wanted to go…

Kali: MapsMe showed a walking trail from Pupnat, a town that the bus passes through, to Račišće. It was around 4km, all downhill, and it would take us about 50 minutes to reach our destination. This was absolutely nothing compared to hikes that we have done before, even with all our luggage. So we ended up getting off the bus at Pupnat. (The Afrikaans readers will enjoy the name!)

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Jarik: Four kilometres – a breeze, although it was now about 1pm. There was even a sign indicating the walking trail close to the bus stop where we got off.

Kali: I started off walking in my flip flops (thongs) as I imagined this to be a comfortable walk. However, we had to get over massive boulders and rocks, and my flip flops didn’t even last a full hour. They had completely disintegrated and were totally useless. Disheartened, I dug out my runners from deep in my bag, and put them on my black, bleeding feet. Then we came to a really bushy and scrubby part of the trek. Also notice how I said my other shoes didn’t even last an hour, that is because by now we have been walking for more than two hours and the GPS showed that we still had 2.3kms to go!

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Jarik: About 500m outside the village, the walking track gave way to a very rugged and rocky trail that was heavily overgrown. It was also by now apparent the “downhill walk” was actually quite a steep descent towards the glistening blue ocean that was very far off in the distance!

Kali: Our slow progress was not because we are slow hikers, but because we had wandered through various fingers splitting off from the track, all with our heavy backpacks. MapsMe couldn’t detect our location precise enough to be able to follow the track. Four hours passed and by now we were not only fighting our way over the boulders and rocks, but had a run-in with some aggressive bees as well – I got stung twice! We ended up just making our own trail through thick thorn bushes. Our legs, arms, faces, hands, feet and backs got badly scratched and our shirts and backpacks were also torn. It was horrendous! What made it even worse was that, after the 1st hour and in the middle of the day, all our water had completely run out and there was no house or farm in sight.

Jarik: After the second hour of very slow progress, following what seems to be the overgrown ruins of a winding rock boundary wall of some sorts, Mariza and I both realised that we still had a couple of hours of hard going ahead of us. It would be too difficult to go back the way we came. The only alternative was to continue pushing through the thorny shrubs and vines to slowly find a way to the bottom. We were totally ill prepared and just hoping that we would make it down before dark. Everyone was tired and hungry but we had to make sure that our troop’s attitude remained positive or we would never get there.

Kali: We all celebrated, some even cried, as soon as we stepped onto the dirt road that meant civilisation was within reach. This was definitely one of the most challenging treks that we have ever done. It took us more than five hours! I was feeling very sick at this stage. (We only had oatmeal in the morning and dry bread earlier in the day with very little water through the heat.) We climbed through a fence to fill our water bottles at an abandoned house and continued down the single lane road towards Račišće. Our apartment was delightful. It was such a relief to find a clean, neat and beautiful little apartment close to the cool blue ocean! We had an amazing welcome from our incredible hosts. From the picture to follow, you’ll see why the first thing we did was swim!!!

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Jarik: I am so proud of my family! Not a single part of the day’s journey worked out as planned. We had to just adjust and find a way, even if it meant doing one of the toughest “hikes” we had ever done. The rewards were spectacular. Račišće is a forgotten  little piece of paradise in a beautiful corner of the crystal ocean. The conversations during and after the day’s ordeal were absolutely priceless. How fortunate we are to share this with our children.

Until next time,

– Kali –

– Jarik –

 

 

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Croatia – Split & Omiš

Author: Mariza

It is high summer season in Split as we arrive from the airport by bus. Vines and olive trees and crystal blue ocean along the way. The first part of Split as you approach from the bus station and cruise liner harbour is very touristy. Holiday festivity sort of air, but nothing too impressive. Except the glorious ocean. That is impressive from every angle. Ink blue water, even in the harbour. My kind of water!! (As opposed to brown… as in my beloved home city).

As we make our way through the interesting little streets to our beautiful old apartment, we start falling in love with Split. Drinking in the perfect view from every window of our gorgeous abode concludes the process. We have lost our hearts.

Over the course of three days we explore the old, stone built city. Dating from the second century. We get lost in the tiny streets with alleyways and stone staircases in all directions. Beautiful stone buildings with orangey brown tiled roofs and green shutters. Everything looks similar, but different. Unique pieces creating a perfect whole. I LOVE it!

We go for long runs along the shoreline, discovering beautiful pebbly beaches. We bathe in the glorious blue ocean and dry ourselves in the bright, warm sun. We laugh and dream and drink in a beautiful old wold city.

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Our next stop is the lovely little town of Omiš. We find ourselves in a fabulous two bedroom apartment overlooking the old city. From our balcony we drink in the morning and evening colour changes over impressive limestone cliffs. We eat and drink and run and swim, all with the beautiful blue ocean at our feet.

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On a particularly adventurous day, we walk from sea side village to sea side village, only in our swimmers and a sarong. We dive into the crystal clear water again and again in different spots, one more beautiful than the next. And we fall ever deeper in love with this beautiful place.

At one point, sun kissed and nicely tired, we decide to have some refreshments on the beach. Great was our shock, horror and disappointment as we discover everything is cash only and the closest cash machine is in the town we are staying, now a day walk away. Jarik brought only enough cash for the local bus back and a credit card. Oh my!!

A friendly beach bar owner offer to have us drink on the house and have us bring the money the following day. We politely decline. We will never see this place again, unfortunately. We leave for a nearby island in the morning.

Making a long, exhausting story short, we ended up getting a free lift in a tiny car. Not before waiting at a bus stop for over an hour and a two hour uphill walk in the blazing sun before that. But all is well that ends well. We made it back with time to spare for another walk up a river gorge. Crazy family, I know.

Early the next morning we were up and ready for our next adventure. This one turning out a whole lot worse and more adventurous than ever expected!! An update to follow from the pen of one of our surviving children.

– Mariza –

 

 

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