Made it to Brac, one of many islands along the Dalmatian coast.
To get over to the island you have to drive or walk onto a ferry boat.
.
The usually busy tourist options sat still, like this nice little boat that usually provides sailing tours.
Ah, the sleepy little town of Supetar, the largest village on the island of Brac. It's October, past the tourist season, but you would think there would still be a few people here. The weather is mild, ocean still warm, but COVID travel restrictions killed their tourist business. We were the only tourists in a huge resort of probably 500 units. Pools were all drained, restaurants all closed, etc.
Ah, but the swim beaches were open. We practically had the entire beach and swim bay to ourselves. Water was still warm, so we swam around and watched the fish circle our feet and legs.
Perfect opportunity to lay around in the sun and dangle your legs in the ocean.
Spent a couple of days driving around the island to the other small villages. Not a tourist to be found. Time to wander down to the beach, through the palm trees and olive groves.
Seafood is a big thing here of course, but their idea of seafood is a little different than ours. For some reason they seem fixated on squid, and they don't de-head or peal their shrimp. That's part of the dining experience. Add a few grilled artichoke hearts and tuna filets and you got yourself a meal.
Mmmm, look at that big chunk of squid! And the breaded deep fried Calamari too!
On the remote side of the island, exploring a few fishing villages. People looked at us like we were from another planet or something. I guess they didn't expect tourists, especially Americans, this year and at this time of year.
Ah, the suburbs of Bobovisca, or is this now Lozisca, or Milna? They are only 5-10 kilometers apart and all have their own personality.
OK, now where the______ are we????
An interesting phenomenon here, due to a grape blight and economic hard times, much of the population abandoned their homes and moved to other parts of the world. Many people from Brac moved to Chile. Their houses here still sit abandoned. They cannot be sold or taken over because the law says the original owners can come back and claim them.
This whole place has a rugged beauty about it.
In the center of the island there is a small town which has a museum of the area's history. I'm not usually into history museums, but this place was fascinating. Due to the lack of tourists, we were the only guests in the museum, and had the curator all to ourselves for a private tour and instruction. The focus of history around here is on the ancient Greek, Venetian and Roman times.
Back then almost everything seemed to be built out of stone, and they didn't even use mortar between the stone block piled on top of each other to form arches.
Couldn't escape the little old lady trying to sell her wares next door to the museum entrance. She wanted to sell us home made olive oil, but we settled for a bag of figs from her trees.
Down on the south end of the island we found more fishing villages.
Rosi couldn't resist taking a picture of one of the locals working in her garden.
Up on the highest point of the island you can see the Adriatic and several neighboring islands.
Around every turn there is a beautiful little cove and swim beach.
And of course, there are stone ruins everywhere.
Such a charming island, so beautiful in it's variety. It's fortunate for you guys that there aren't tourists around, but also unfortunate for you guys that there aren't tourists around. Those people you meet make up such a valuable part of the places you visit. Lovely little ladies you came in contact with.
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