Beach Day!

Today we decided was going to be a beach day, but the beaches in Split are sooooo busy and not that inviting.  We had heard about the Makarska Riviera- about 50 km south of Split.  We headed out in search of a nice beach.  As soon as we were 10 mins south of Split it was unbelievable- the mountains on the left and this blue green ocean to our right- stunning.  There were areas where we could have been in the Okanagan as the terrain is very desert like and other turns we felt like we were in Southern California.

We came upon the Makarska Riviera and were high up in the mountains- we started the descent down and we were on this amazing stretch of beach.  We had to pay 80kuna for parking (not too bad- about $14!) Down to the beach we headed- we forgot that we had no towels!! There were little stands selling everything from fruit to flip flops on the beach, but they were pretty expensive.  Frank took a walk towards town and found a cheapish vendor and bought some towels.  We spread out and started soaking up the sun. The rays here don't seem as bad as in BC- we had run out of sunscreen in Venice and had bought some there so we lathered up.
Side note- they had nothing higher than 30 SPF in Venice and the sunscreen there was so expensive 18euros for a small tube ( about $22!)  They looked at me funny when I asked in they had anything higher and showed me a 5 SPF (what is the point of 5?).
Back at the beach- the girls headed straight for the water.  Luckily I had read that Croatian beaches are pebbly and had bought the girls water shoes as there is no sand here.  Then again there are no waves so it is kind of hard to have soft sand beaches if there are no waves.  I settled in to people watch- oh boy you see it all here- men in speedos, topless women and kids naked!

pigs on the spit in the parking lot!

surrounded by mountains and ponderosa pines.

After a few hours we headed up to a little beach shack and had a light lunch (hahaha- massive burgers, a foot long hot dog for Delaney and sausage sandwich for Frank that was ridiculous!!) I would love a salad- really i would. Strolling back to our towels we saw an ice cream stand- well okay lunch was big but not that big (!)  Ice cream is so cheap here it is hard not to have it all the time- a 2 scoop (BIG scoops) ice cream on a very fresh cone is about $2.50 max- one scoop just over a buck- it's like they are giving it away!
Back on the beach the girls convinced me to come in to the water- OMG it is so cold- it looks so inviting but brrrrr.  I had to swim in it as that makes another ocean/sea that I have dipped myself into.
After almost 6 hours on the beach- we had to drag the girls out of the water.  We headed back to Split drving towards a magnificent sunset.  We stopped in Omis on the way- a cute little town that had a river flowing down the middle and massive mountains surrounding it- high on the hill we could see a castle.  There are so many high up castles in the mountains- left overs form hundreds of years of war.
Back in Split we are now sitting in the apartment and chilling after our hard day at the beach.

Omis