Day 13: A different kind of beach in Bol

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By Riana

The church of St Anthony is perched on top of St Anthony's Hill, just south of Korčula's Old Town and our harbour. We got up bright and early and started our day with a climb up this hill in time for a sunrise view from the church's grounds. On our way back to the harbour we walked past a few houses, and admired the amount of fruit trees that we saw. Apple, quince, citrus, fig, loquat, olive trees and grape vines were the ones we saw on our short walk.

We sailed to the island of Brač, but as we were only allowed into the harbour at around 5pm, we had a lazy day on the boat with lots of reading, sunbathing and a swim break close to the southern end of Hvar island.

In the afternoon we ported in the harbour of Bol, and made our way along the pretty seaside promenade towards the Zlatni rat beach, about a 20 minute walk from Bol. The pine tree lined promenade also has a number of vendors selling touristy souvenirs, especially things made from the famous white stone found on Brač island. (The locals like bragging that this is the stone the US White House was built from, but in reality, several countries pitched in together to sipply enough white stone).

The Zlatni Rat beach forms a little +/- 400m long tongue-like peninsula, that is very picturesque when seen from a distance or from above, and appears on many postcards and tourism brochures. Unfortunately it is difficult to appreciate the unique shape when actually standing on the beach! The beach surroundings almost reminds you of the Cape Town beaches with high mountains in the back and a blue stretched out ocean in front of you, just take away the Cape Town waves and exchange the soft sand for white pebbles. On the beach we sat and watched wind surfers and kite surfers show off their skills in the water and wind, while a few children played in the water. A bit too windy for us to want to swim!

Back in Bol town we felt like it was time for ice cream, but the ones we chose were slightly disappointing. Oh well - I guess we can't hit the jackpot every time! Further along the harbour we watched a local ritual with people dressed up in traditional outfits on their small boats, with lots of flowers on all the boats. Aldo explained that it is a yearly ceremony during which fishermen are blessed on their journeys.

Our ship's crew had organised a BBQ dinner tonight, which we decided to join. Good choice since Bol wasn't really inspiring us too much! Four different types of meat, including the traditional cevapcici with ajvar, provided us with a bit of a protein overload!

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