The Island of Rock - Brac

While all of the Dalmatian islands we visited or passed by have piles and piles of rock on them, Brac stood out in this regard. Passing by rock piles, walls and buildings one understands how hard won islanders existence really is. Among the rocks are fields of lavendar, vineyards, and olive, fig and pomegranate trees. It's hard to understand how so much grows so well in this landscape, but it does. Of course, this would be the place of a thriving stone cutters school and, famously, the source of some of the stone that went into building our White House.

Our group poses in the lobby of the Hotel Postira before going to dinner.


On our last day on Brac we are taken to the top of Vidova gora and bike down to the town of Bol for a swim at Croatia's most famous beach, Zlatni Rat (Golden Horn) with smooth, beige stones that we saw nowhere else. From here we depart by private boat to Jelsa. Family home of Mattej, which we visit and have a chance to see inside a traditional home on the riva.









Lunch break of lamb and vegetables cooked under a Peka.










Mario (white shirt) below is the informal restaurant's proprietor and we all decided to eat here together on our free night. Mario had introduced himself to us when we biked past his home/restaurant on our first test ride up the hill from our hotel and he invited us to have some homemade grappa and beer free. About half of us took him up on the offer. We decided to thank him with a roasted lamb dinner at his restaurant. At this time of year, many establishments are closed and we were lucky. We all lots of homemade wine to drink and it's surprising that we all made it to our 8:30 a.m. briefing the next morning.













Our large group split up to make it easier on our hosts to fit us at their dining table for an authentic Croatian dinner in the village of Postira. Our host had just returned to her grandmother's home having gone to Canada during the Balkan War. We had a simple dinner for stuffed bell peppers and a dessert of custard, homemade walnut grappa, and other Croatian foods.











A stop at a hilltop village for homemade herb grappa, wine and olive oil.




Stonecutters schoolin the village of Skrip.






A much deserved view after climbing a long hill and a even better deserved cool beer as reward.






First day biking and after a briefing with Marko and Mattej, we're off to try our bikes in the hills above Postira. View from hotel room at the Hotel Pastura.