My original plan for my trip to Croatia was to visit Dubrovnik then work my way up north visiting the islands along the coast, then heading to Plitvice Lakes, Zagreb, and finally crossing the border to Ljubljana. I met F and his mother in Dubrovnik (they arrived from Albania) and we eventually made it up to Split. The problem with heading further north was that eventually they would have to travel by bus back to Albania and the trip would be too long and exhausting for F’s 70 year old mother so we decided against it.

Plan B was to spend a couple of days on Bol, a small town on Brac Island with beautiful pebble beaches. All I wanted to do at that point was lay on the beach and swim in the crystal clear water. That’s what I did on the first day. The famous beach in Bol is at Zlatni Rat and it is just as beautiful as I had seen in the photos. The water is so clean and clear, if not a little on the chilly side, although that is probably normal for September. If you swim out a little bit away from the beach you can see lots of fish swimming in the deep waters below.

Day 2 was a complete washout with a huge storm lasting the entire day. With no internet access in my guesthouse, I had nothing to do but lie around reading my book. As relaxing as that sounds, it was kind of boring but the apartment owner Petra made it somewhat interesting by insisting on chatting with me in a mixture of Croatian and German, neither of which I speak.

All the locals in Bol were extremely friendly and helpful. I loved every minute there. I considered never leaving but the thought of living in a tiny town with only one ferry per day was enough to put an end to that idea.

If you want an amazing meal with a menu which is far from the standard pizza, pasta, black risotto, grilled meat and fish menu you see at 90% of Croatian restaurants, then I recommend Vagabundo. The food was incredible and even though it’s an upscale restaurant, the price was less than 20 euros per head.

Brac definitely ranks among my favourite islands in Croatia.