The Makarska Riviera...

I've heard the word 'Riviera' but a few times - It sounds glamorous and glitzy. It's like the beach, but with ferrari's and movie stars instead of Families in their Holden HQ or Sportpac van.

My past associations with the word Riviera have been with reference to the French and Italian varieties, In fact I didn't even realise there were others... and to be honest, I'm still not entirely sure how one differentiates a 'riviera' from any other stretch of coastline with nice beaches.

Standing in the water at Brela, eyes left... eyes right...

But I have to say, that despite all my un-vast experience of rivieri (is that the plural?!) I wasn't entirely right or wrong. True, we didn't see any ferrari's or movie stars... but then we didn't see any Sportpac vans or holden HQ's either!!! We did see loads of glamorous looking people (or was that just me... seeing Mez's reflection?!) but then one does tend to see loads of glamorous people wherever you go in Europe (well at least the places we've been... ok so that's only Italy, Croatia and Paris... anyway). And we also saw loads of families. Brela is just down the coast-road from Omis (which is just down the coast from Split), and was rated among the top ten beaches in the world in 2004. We'd been to one other top ten beach on our honeymoon (Whitehaven beach in the Whitsunday Islands off the Queensland coast of Australia) which was simply stunning, and Brela was certainly no different. Stunning would be an understatement. Delightfully laid back place. A few touristy shops back well off the beach, a few cafes and gelateria's and just enough people that the place had a buzz about it, without being overcrowded. We enjoyed a nice dip (again, went solo on the dip option as Abbey wasn't really in need of a wet bum on a day of only around 30 degrees!), tried to get some sun on our pasty white skrawny tummies, Wrote some postcards, read our books (Crime and Punishment for Ry, The rise and fall of a Yummy Mummy for Mez). Just generally chilled for the morning. For lunch we scooted another two towns down the coast to Makarska, the biggest town along that stretch and (Obviously) the one after which the Makarska Riviera is named.

Makarska was again a thriving, yet laid back and slightly sleepy place, we only really stopped long enough to contemplate and turn down another swim, and have yet another sea side lunch at an outdoor restaurant, and wander along the sea front, which is almost like a natural harbour.

I think if there was anywhere I would have loved to spend more time on this holiday, It would have been in this region. The Scenery was absolutely breathtaking. The food sumptous, the company superb (as my wife and daughter always are). Weather was great, the beaches were incredible, the adriatic sea a refreshingly gorgeous temperature that left us wanting more... But this was all the savouring we got for the moment as after lunch we headed again for the hills and off towards Medjugorge...

Below are some of our panoramics... the first and second are Makarska (horizontally & vertically)and the final one is taken from the cliff/road to Medjugorge, as is the normal photo that follows it... you can get some idea of the Magnitude of these cliffs looking at the size of the van, so that view in the panoramic which is taken from the same Layby where we stopped is over a HUGE area... trust me, it's much better in real life!! A certain highlight... could only have been better maybe if we had biked to the top to get the view, rather than drive... But in 30 degrees I have to say (at the time) I was glad for the car and air con! What can I say: We live blessed lives.