Bol

[June 1 - 3]

Ashley, Greg, Dean, and I, took the ferry over from Split to Supetar on the island of Brac. We had heard from our Seattle friend Katherine that Supetar was not such a super city, so we wanted to head out to Bol on the other side of the island.

We were immediately scooped up by Miriam, a lady with accomodation for rent. A ride was included in the offer and we hopped in. She drove like a maniac down the narrow hilly roads, but it was better than paying for the bus. We liked her apartment and settled in. One of the side rooms had another American, Piers, who had just finished med school. Having already been there for a few days, he showed us around the town and we all had lunch on the beach.


Ashley decorates Greg on "Zlatni Rat"

Now when most people think of a beach, they envision a place where water meets the sand...

But this was pure rock, and some of it painfully sharp. Yet every local seemed to call it a "nice sandy beach." Anyway, we had a little swim in the cold water and enjoyed some deli sandwiches. Bol is famous for Zlatni Rat, a strech of rocks that just out into the water. The far left side is usually reserved for aging nudists. In fact, Croatia is known for its many nudist areas. Some may say that we are too young and beautiful to participate in this cultural activity.



Windsurfing is another popular activity in Bol and the windy days showed us why. It looked a little rough for the beginners, but Piers gave it a good shot out there. Ashley had already done her share of windsurfing in Spain and the rest of us decided not to try and become one of those people constanting falling in the cold water. Maybe next time.

Another day we took a nice bike ride out to a neighboring village of Murvica. From there, we took a terrible hike up to the Dragon Cave. I only call it a terrible hike because it was the middle of a hot day on a rocky path, and Ashley and I were only wearing sandals and falling all over the place. But the views were great, red poppies lined the hills, and the cave displayed a nice carving of a dragon. You can kind of see him here in the middle of this photo snagged from the internet.



Our nights on Bol were the best fun. Greg and Ashley taught us how to play the "Oh Hell" card game. Basically, it is a bit like hearts where you take or don't take tricks every round. But all players have to simultaneously bid on how many hands they are going to take. Well, it is difficult to explain here, but you can read a version of the rules here. In short, it is a great game and quite addictive.

To add to the fun, we made up our own rules depending on who did the best in the last round. For example, at one point we had to say the Croatian word "Jedan" instead of "One," or refer to Greg as "Master Greg," and refer to ourselves in third person. The drinking penalty for broken rules made it a bit difficult to keep track of the game and remember all the rules, especially for a certain someone whose name starts with a D.

After getting our fill of cards and beach time at Bol, we were ready to head out to Hvar Town, a short ferry ride away to the neighboring island of Hvar.