Otok Brac Off The Beaten Path

4 more images

... off the beaten track as you can get, is the tiny chapel of Sveti Nikola, high on hill between Selca and Sumartin at the western end of Brac. Dating from between the 9th and the 11th centuries, there are several of these ancient chapels dotted around Brac, most of them concentrated at the western end of the island and almost all of them in fairly inaccessible places. I had a special interest in this one in particular and I was determined to find it.

A sign on the side of the road not long before you get to Sumartin points the way and, to begin with, the road is driveable - but not for long. After that, unless you have a four-wheel drive, you'll need to walk. And a long walk it is, uphill all the way. We came to a steeper, smaller path after a while, which seemed as though it would lead up to the chapel but we chose to stay on the road at that point, and we kept on walking ... and walking ... and walking.

It was a beautiful walk actually, high up in the maquis, the flowers of late summer and first berries of autumn lining the path, the scent of the pine trees and birdsong all around us. We passed some well-tended olive trees along the way but didn't meet another soul. Finally, we found ourselves at the chapel, locked - it's only open for the feast of the saint, December 6 - so no chance to see inside but it was very gratifying to have made it. The walk, the peace, the beautiful views over the countryside and the sense of a mission accomplished (photos to send to the St Nicholas Project) made it all a highlight of our time on Brac this year.

Instead of just turning back the way we had come, we took another path down the hill from the bottom of quarry that sits below the chapel. This turned out to be the path we had seen earlier - and our instincts were right, it was much steeper and rougher than the road we'd taken up, far easier to come down than go up.

Now there are just the other chapels like this one to visit - Sv Rocco, Sv Iadro, Sv Sylvester, Sv Mahail ......more than a dozen of them.

Look carefully at Photo 5 - you can pick out the chapel as a tiny white speck high on the hill