Flat Stanley Adventures: Flat Stanley in Croatia, Island of Brac!

Dear students and teachers,

before I say goodbye to the beautiful island you sent me to, let me tell you something about it.

Croatia is a country in Central Europe, which is relatively new, and became an independent state in 1991, and was recognized by the EU and UNO in 1992 (this is a very shortened history).

The Capital of Croatia is a very nice and chic town Zagreb.

Croatia is a long stripe in the Adriatic sea (Mediterranean), with cca 4,5 Mio inhabitants, and with cca . I am staying on the island of Brac in Dalmatia, in the town of Bol. Croatia has over 1000 islands!

Brac is third largest island in the Adriatic and it is the proud to have the most famous beach of Adriatic here in Bol - the Golden Horn, a phenomenon that is on every marketing material about this part of Croatia.

I am sending you a picture of it, I went there, it is a 500 metres long - tongue shaped beach consisting of pebbles so soft, that it is constantly changing its shape - due to the currents in the sea. And it is growing by cca 30 cm each year.

A really great place to stay, especially now when it is getting warmer and the water is just such a beautiful blue!

Yours,

Stanley

Dear all,

to tell you more about Brac I will tell you what locals say: Brac, the island where everything is made of stone and everything is stone.

Brac is an island of a rough natural beauty.

Everywhere, you spot the moulds (started by the Ilyrians, i.e. several thousand years B.C.!) - piles of stones build by this ancient people to win some land where they could plant their plants and thus get some food - must have been a very hard life here.

Nowadays on Brac, you can see olives, vineyards, sheep and quarries.

Maybe you did not know but Brac stone is a world famous one, it is a nice white stone of a very good quality and besides Dioclecian Palace in Split and Parliament Houses in Vienna and Budapest is was also used to build the White House in Washington D.C.!

Also a lot other parts of this beautiful country are covered by or are consisting of stone.

Best regards,

Stanley

My dear students and teachers,

I already told you about stone on Brac.

As they say: stone is not quarried here, it is harvested. In this email I would like to show you how it looks in our town of Bol - which I find really typical for most of Croatia.

I have to say, these stone houses with white roof are quite charming, and they provide a nice escape in the summer heats.

I have not yet mentioned the winds we have here, as we are at the sea, we have those cclonal winds - yugo in winter and then maestral in summer. And also, we have irregular, anti-cyclon wind here which can be very strong and unpleasant, it shakes the windows, blows away your hat etc., and it is called bura.

I saw one bura here and I can tell you I was a little scared.

Bura is most dangerous when you are at the sea. It comes down from the hills and enters the sea with a great speed, it turns in different directions and spreads like fingers, it causes a lot of rough waves with foam and spray that makes breathing difficult. I saw how it stops, it is amazing, it just stops in one second, like when a conductor stops an orchestra! It is so amazing!

NIce regards from Bol!

Yours,

Stanley

Dear all,

here just some more impressions from when I walked around the town.

On a nice day, you can see Biokovo mountains - on the continent - a very nice view, indeed! Also, you can see the island of Hvar pretty close here. A nice island, too.

Now, the tourist boats are prepared for the season and you can also see a nice graffiti that we have, I liked it a lot!

Best regards,

Stanley

My dear students and teachers,

you are sure wondering, living at the coast not writing about the fish?

So here it is now. Yes, a lot of people own boats here and a lot of them catch fish, some of them only for their own family, some of them for living.

Fisherman mending his net

We have a small harbour here and a fresh fish is sure something very nice to have!

You can see lights on the boats. These are used when the boats go out at te sea at night. They attract the fish which do not figure out that it is not the sun rising but a net of a fishing boat spreading in the strong white light....

See you next time!

Stanley

Dear students,

I have not yet told you about the religion. Most - almost all Croatians are of catholic religion and I just jumed down here for Easter preparation.

I am sending you some pictures from a workshop for kindergarden kids moms, where we produced decorations which then our children and teachers were selling and it was used for people here on the island with special needs.

It was a lot of fun!

Also, I am sending you a view of our nice monastery.

There are a lot of monasteries on Brac. But I will tell you more next time.

Yours,

Stanley

Dear students and teachers,

as I have promised, here is some more on religion and history.

There are several (cca 7) abandoned hermitage monasteries on the islands.

They were here for centuries and they were founded by monks who were escaping the Turks in the middle ages.

One of them Blaca, is nowadays a museum.

I wen to Draceva loka - Dragon"s meadow. And it was very nice. The landscape was breathtaking, the flora is just so southern and magical and then you get to the ruins and start to dream about how it was once upon the time.... a nice experience, young people!

Talk to you soon!

Yours,

Stanley

My dears,

on the way to the beach you can see a catamaran in the back. It is one of the means of transport here.

Anything you cannot get on the island you eithere have to get from land or order online today!

We also use car ferries here a lot- I will show in my next email.

Best wishes,

Stanley

My dear students,

life on an island is different to the life on continent, I can tell you that!

it is even nowadays simpler and harder and you need to rethink some of your habits and values if you decide to live so. But in a way, it is a dream life, too.

Today I guess, it is much easier than it used to be.

I am sending you some ferries which we use for transporting us and our cars to the continent when we need to. I think they are pretty amazing!

Yours,

Stanley - the flat one!

Dear Meares Academy class,

I told you that we have a lot of sheep here.

They are a landmark here on the island and often times you need to break strongly to avoid these nice animals who just jump in front of your car, first the old ones and then followed by the crazy young ones!

I went for a trip to an old shepherd"s settlement called Gazul. I saw how hard life back then it was. Today, it is only inhabited in summer. I went further to the forest and found old shepherd"s huts which used to serve as a night shed. They were not easy to spot as they were either incorporated into the mould or fences. It is amazing how long they have kept - these buildings are all dry, without any sticking material whatsoever!

Shepherd's housing

Shepherd's nightshed

Have a look and see you soon!

Yours,

Stanley

My dears,

I could not help it and photographed you the whole story including a part about an eccentric shepherd named Mr. Loda.

Best regards,

Stanley

Dear students and all,

the island of Brac and actually Dalmatia is a very hilly area.

On our trip, we went to one of the highest peak here - Veli Gazul - the Big Gazul.

It only is 707 metres above sea high and you don"t even see the peak when you are there! I though I will share this funny fact with you.

Vidova gora here is the highest peak and it measures 780 metres above sea and you get a nice view of the neighbouring islands from there - ecpecially Hvar.

Next time, I will tell you something about food!

See you!

Stanley

My dear students,

my time is almost over here and though I really loved it, I am looking forward to my next destination, which will be Austria!

I am sending you some typical impressions from here and a picture of a nice platter with Cevabcici - a minced meat loafs, eaten with ajvar - a spread or dip made from baked peppers, and with onions (sometimes mustard).