Solid School Session

We had virtually a whole day to kill before our ferry departed Brač for the Croatian mainland. We left our apartment in Bol on the central Southern part of the island around 10:30am and didn't need to be in Sumartin until our 6:00pm ferry. What to do?

No Dice

We first attempted to see the Dragon's Cave, a 15th century monument/cave with a host of superstitions surrounding it. We couldn't find any sign posts, but thought we had a decent idea where it was. We hiked up past some homes and beehives, but still no signals that we were headed in the right direction. Doug ran ahead on the trail to see if he could get a better sense of our chances. While he was gone the girls worked together to build a little nature castle of sorts, resourcefully made with nearby materials of rocks, pine cones and vibrant green pine needles. Turned out really well!

Doug reported back that it was way too far away for us to reach it in a reasonable amount of time. That intel, plus a Google search indicating it could only be visited with a private guide, made us turn back. That's what we get for not doing a bit of research in advance :) No biggie, though, because it allowed us to clock a mini hike on a beautiful day.

Povlja Lunch

We continued on to the small harbor village of Povlja, about 15 minutes north of our ferry departure town of Sumartin. Povlja only had three legitimate restaurants, one of which was already closed for the season. We took our chances and opted for the restaurant that had an older couple dining outside. We got settled at a table on the other side. We asked the waiter (who we later found out was also the chef & owner) if he had a food menu. His response: "Since it's the end of the season, we don't have the full menu. We just have what's left." Well, alrighty then! We got a spread of pasta pomodoro, seafood pasta, veal and grilled veggies. The food itself was average, but sitting outside with the sun shining, breeze blowing and virtually no one else around was heavenly.

School

Bellies full of lunch, we still had a few hours to spare. We asked the owner if the restaurant had wifi, and thankfully they did. Doug ran back to the car & grabbed all our school essentials: laptops, school notebooks & pencil cases. We divided into two tables for best focus: one table with Doug & Sadie, another table on the far other side with me & Paige. We've decided to divide & conquer per main school subject. Doug does Math with Sadie & Language Arts with Paige; conversely, I do Math with Paige & Language Arts with Sadie. Today was a Math day, followed by writing & reading. Both girls were totally into school; one of those days where there was no push-back and they were happily focused on learning new material. Maybe it helped to have a beautiful setting & fresh air. Who knows, but it felt good to clock a solid school session.

We had a little extra time for goofing around, mailing postcards and video chatting with my sister & family back in Bethesda, Maryland. Our nephew Gibson had turned 10 (!) earlier in the week and we wanted to hear all about it. To make Gibson laugh, Doug was like "Hey, Gibson, watch this!" and proceeded to throw off his shirt & dive into the Adriatic Sea waters right in front of the restaurant! Me & the girls were skeptical that was even allowed, so close to all the boats, but it was pretty darn cool.

We also put finishing touches on a few blog posts. Doug posted his "Drinking Olive Oil" post from this very seat and view :)

It was then time to pack up and hit the road for our ferry. Today was a day where it felt really good to log school. Productive school lessons + beautiful setting = recipe for success. I hope we can make school sessions work in many more unconventional, memorable settings like this one ahead. Such a treat to be able to change it up; the girls respond well to a change of scenery for tackling new challenges, and their teachers do too :)