Makarska, Croatia: Secret Seaside

For a wonderful Vacation or Holiday, Makarska Rivijera, which is home to some of the loveliest beaches in Croatia, is the place.  

Most visitors to Dalmatia head straight for the islands, but the Makarska Rivijera on the mainland coast, between Split and Dubrovnik, is home to some of the country’s loveliest stretches of beach. Running from Brela in the north to Gradac in the south, the riviera is 38 miles long and centres on Makarska. 

Makarska itself is built around a deep sheltered bay, and backed by the dramatic rocky heights of Mount Biokovo (5,770ft), which acts as a buffer from the harsher inland climate. Biokovo’s sea-facing slopes are criss-crossed by well-marked trails, so besides swimming in the deep turquoise Adriatic, it’s possible to get in some hiking or mountain biking too. 

Back in the 10th century, the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII referred to this region as Pagania. The long narrow coastal strip, between the mouth of the River Cetina and the mouth of River Neretva, Pagania was named after its inhabitants, the Pagani. A rebellious people who lived from piracy, raiding passing galleys, the Pagani hadn’t accepted Christianity until the 9th century, far later than the other Slavs. 

Nowadays things are somewhat more peaceful, with the locals making a living from fishing, olive oil and wine making, and tourism, but there’s still a rather pleasing, wild untouched feeling to the place. The settlements here remain small and villagey, with the exception of Makarska, with its lovely main square overlooked by the Baroque Church of St Mark and several elegant palazzi built by wealthy local merchants, recording 18th-century prosperity and refinement under Venice. 

Today, through summer Makarska’s main square is filled with open-air restaurants and cafés, while behind the church, in the shade, the daily open-air market sells fresh seasonal fruit and vegetables. Along the harbour, overlooked by a string of cafés and pizzeria, wooden excursion boats offer one-day trips to Jelsa on Hvar and Zlatni Rat beach in Bol on Brac. 

But the main draw here is the beaches, backed by fragrant pinewoods overlooking the glistening turquoise sea. Makarska’s town beach is a long curving stretch of pebble, behind which runs a shady palm-lined promenade with several big hotels interspersed by cafés, restaurants and ice cream parlours. There are peddle-boats, banana rides and jet skis for hire, so it’s great for families but not particularly restful.

However, from here you can walk or cycle northwest along the coast all the way to Brela (nine miles). On the way, you pass Buba beach bar, in a bay with straw umbrellas and wooden sunbeds – its quiet in the mornings, but gets livelier during the day with DJ music in the afternoons, sunset cocktails, and occasional after-dark concerts and electronic dance music at night. Then there’s a quiet stretch, made up of rocks and small pebble coves, some just big enough for two, backed by dense pinewoods. There are no facilities here and no natural shade, so bring your own umbrella and a beach mat if you don’t like stony surfaces. It’s also nudist-friendly – nothing in unusual in Croatia, which has a history of naked bathing dating back to the early 1900s. Northwest from here, you come to the small resort of Baska Voda, where Nikolina white pebble beach has a Blue Flag for environmental standards, with sun beds for hire, showers, and life guards on duty through summer. A couple of miles farther on, blissful Punta Rata on the edge of Brela is many people’s favourite beach – its ideal for families as the seabed slopes gently into shallow sea, and its fully equipped with sun beds and umbrellas.

In the opposite direction from Makarska, southeast of the harbour, a 1.5-mile footpath leads through pinewoods, with occasional agaves and cacti clinging to the rocky seaward slopes, to arrive at Nugal, another clothing-optional beach, set in pebble cove backed by high sided cliffs. Once again there are no facilities, so it’s a real back-to-nature escape and the sea is refreshingly chilly due to underground fresh water springs, which rise here. After Nugal comes Tucepi, a pleasant small-scale resort with a long pebble beach, a scuba-diving club and a 50-berth marina.

Away from the coast, on the lower slopes of Mount Biokovo, just outside to hamlet of Kotisina (two miles), the tiny Kotisina botanical garden displays indigenous rock plants, each marked with its Latin name. Here you are at the edge of Biokovo Nature Park. The karst landscape becomes increasingly barren as you ascend, with scanty pastures (look out for chamois goats and mouflon sheep) turning to a barren moonscape of limestone rocks. The highest peak, Sveti Jure, affords fantastic views westwards across the sea to Italy, and inland to the mountains of Bosnia in the east.

 

Source: telegraph.co.uk

US Supreme Court makes landmark ruling in favour of gay marriage

The US Supreme Court today made the landmark decision to strike down the Defence of Marriage Act, granting same-sex married couples the same benefits as their straight counterparts.

To enormous cheers from activists on the court steps, justices split into liberal and conservative camps to overturn the 1996 law and deliver a major victory for gay rights in America. 

The Supreme Court also dismissed a case on California's ban on gay marriage, effectively reinstating marriage rights for same-sex couples in the country's largest state. 

Justice Anthony Kennedy, the centrist judge whose "swing vote" often decides major rulings, sided with the court's four liberals to strike down the law, which defined marriage as exclusively between a man and a woman. 

The five justices ruled that the law violated gay people's right equal protection under the US Constitution, writing that it unfairly "imposes a disability" on same-sex married couples.

"The federal statute is invalid, for no legitimate purpose overcomes the purpose and effect to disparage and injure those whom the State, by its marriage laws, sought to protect in personhood and dignity," Justice Kennedy wrote. 

The ruling means that gay couples in the 12 US states which permit same-sex marriage will have their marriages recognised by the federal government. It tears down more than 1,000 regulations which prevent married gay couples from receiving equal treatment on issues of tax, immigration and property. 

However, it does not grant marriage rights to gay couples in the remaining 38 states. 

The case was brought by Edith Windsor, an 84-year-old lesbian, who was made to pay $363,000 (£226,000) in taxes after the death of her partner of 44 years.

Miss Windsor would not have had to pay the tax if she was married to a man and she successfully argued before a New York court that her constitutional rights were being violated. 

The act was passed in 1996 by the Republican-controlled Congress and signed reluctantly into law by Bill Clinton, to the fury of gay rights advocates. 

Earlier this year, Mr Clinton disavowed the law and said he believed it should be struck down.

In a separate ruling, the Supreme Court decided not to issue a verdict on Proposition 8, a Californian referendum initiative that banned gay marriage. 

The decision means that gay marriages can resume in California but the ruling has no impact on other states. 

In Washington DC, where gay marriage is also permitted, bells rang out at churches across the liberal US capital. 

The rulings were a major step in what has become a rapid American journey towards accepting marriage between people of the same sex. 

In December of last year, when the court agreed to hear the two gay marriage cases, nine states and Washington DC allowed same-sex couples to wed. In the six months it took the justices to reach a ruling that number has climbed to 12 states and more are expected soon. 

The expansion of marriage rights has run in parallel in to a rapid shift in public opinion on the divisive issue. 

In November 2004, the same month George W Bush was re-elected on the strength of Christian evangelical turnout, only 21 per cent of Americans supported gay marriage according to a CBS / New York Times poll. 

By February 2009, weeks after Mr Obama took office, that figure had risen to 30 per cent and this month it had climbed to 51 per cent.