Makarska

Between the sea and the grey wall of the Biokovo, Makarska lies in a bay that two wooded peninsulas almost close into a circle: Sveti Petar to the west, Osejava to the east. Some thirteen thousand people live here, several times as many in summer - the town is the centre of the Makarska Riviera and its largest harbour. Walk from the quay into the old town and within a few steps you stand on Kacic Square before the church of St Mark, whose façade dates from the 18th century. Right beside it a door leads into the Franciscan monastery, and there waits the town's surprise: a collection of shells and snails from every sea, assembled by the monks themselves. The shingle beach runs west from the harbour, and pines reach almost to the water - anyone looking for shade finds it here without an umbrella. Behind the town the Biokovo rises to 1762 metres, and the walk up Sveti Jure is a full day out with a view that reaches as far as Italy in clear weather. In the evening the direction reverses: the waterfront promenade fills up, the benches under the palms are taken, and the ferry to Sumartin on Brač casts off one last time.

Makarska lies on the Adriatic Highway, the coastal road D8, some sixty kilometres south-east of Split - about an hour by car when the road is clear. Anyone flying in lands at Split airport near Kaštela and still has some eighty kilometres to go; buses run the route several times a day. A car ferry crosses from the harbour to Sumartin at the eastern end of the island of Brač, and the crossing takes barely an hour. And anyone who wants to drive the length of the Riviera needs no plan: the D8 keeps close to the coast, and the sea lies below you all the way.