KORCULA ISLAND - DUBROVNIK

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Our cultural and historical appetites sated, it's back on vacation in Croatia, driving even more conservatively, headlights full blaze at midday in order to placate the unsympathetic Croatian Policija.
Back by the sea in Croatia. Vacation time as it never rains along the Dalamation Coast in June. SEND IN THE DROUGHT BREAKERS! In actual fact, the rain normally comes early morning and will usually clear after an hour or so. Korcula Island is another of those idyllic blobs of land nestled in the azure waters of the Adriatic. We found a neat little apartment owned by a guy who would be a walk up start in any Croatian Richard Geer lookalike contest. He and his family were just as amicable as the one we bunked down with in Mostar. Richard Geerovic took us fishing, invited us in to his house to eat the spoils and in his runabout we visited other islands. He said he liked us because we appear simple people. SIMPLE! The wife maybe, but not this little black duck. Having said that, I was simple enough to attempt to climb the wall of an abandoned Monastary on some little island. Some people collect souvenirs on holidays, I like to collect scars. An often used description of Korcula is a mini Dubrovnik. The people of Korcula would probably consider Dubrovnic a steroided up version of their town.. Whatever the case, Dubrovnik was to be our next port of call.
The Pearl of the Adriatic? While it is stunning, the pearl may have lost a little of its shine since the heady days of George Bernard Shaw or the early 80's when our mate Bushy was here. The local population is around 45,000, but on any given day it appears the tourist influx doubles that. It is "The Must See" town along the Dalmation Coastal Strip and the crowds testify that.
On entering the walls of the old city we received a pamphlet welcoming us to "the most beautiful city in the world" - Dubrovnik blowing its own trumpet with Dizzy Gillespie gusto. Hell of a claim, the World's most beautiful city. Umm, I don't know but I guess it's in the ball park and it has recovered darn impressively from the attacks of 1991. (those Serbians didn't take too kindly to the breakdown of Yugoslavia.) Our family back in Mostar where a little miffed when we mentioned the war in Croatia."Those Croatians don't know what REAL war is?" I guess it's all relative, but looking at the photos of December 1991 and the death toll, I'll give it war status. Just don't tell the Bosnians I said that.
Then Croatia comes to an end. Any final observations?
# There's a lot of cats, particularly on Korcula.
#How do dogs thank you after you have dragged them up on to the warf when they were floundering in the harbour on the verge of drowning? Wag the tail, look at you lovingly and then splash water all over you before running off to chase a cat.
# There are lots of mortar holes in the roadside footpaths.
# Croatian people are big. The wallabies could do a lot worse than look for a tight 5 amongst the Dalmation sporting people.
Yeatesy

The Infamous Aussies
Friday: Arrive in Korcula, get settled and walk down along the marina. Discover one, tired stuck labrador, swimming in the water. The dog has jumped in after a stick but the tide is too low for him to climb back out. In steps one aussie saviour, Gary. He jumps down onto the warf, calls the dog over, leans in and drags the dog up out of the water. You would think the dog would be appreciative, but instead it shakes every drop of water over the two of us clean rescuers and proceeds to chase and bail up a cat much to the amusment of a group of Japanese tourists who have just pulled in.
Saturday: Colvin / Yeates discover one freshly killed baby kitten and proceed to bury it and give it a little grave site. It is however, the kitten the little girl whose parents we have rented an aprtment from intend to give her for her birthday in 2 weeks time. So we now have the grand job of consolling her as she is told the cat has died and there goes her present.
Sunday: We are invited fishing with the fellow whose apartment we are renting. (I guess all is well on the cat front). He says we have brought him luck as we catch 21 good size fish, 2 Octopus and a bag of mussles. (Well, can we claim it as fishing when we hauled in the fish traps!!) He did extend a dinner invitation to us that night to enjoy the very fresh seafood.
Monday.: We are enjoying Korcula so much we extend our stay a day. We decide to climb an old monostary wall to get the "perfect" photo. I manage to reach the top, however Gary slips and cuts his leg. Yes he does like to collect personal souvenirs from his holiday destinations. We head to the supermarket to get some bandaids or anything to clean it up with, but the supermarket does not sell such items, you need to go to the pharmacy. We head to the pharmacy, I explain to the elderly Croation pharmacy lady we need some type of bandaids / swab / butterfly clip for a cut. She looks at me then to Gary and says in broken english. "call ambulance". A little overkill we think. So back to our small first aid kit, it seems to have done the trick.
Tuesday: Think the people of Korcula will remember us, particularly the cafe where we had lamingtons, or coconut cakes as they call them. On to Dubrovnik for a few days. It is a lovely city, repaired and renewed greatly since the war, and it too has been a peaceful two days. With no more incidents we are to move on to Montengro in a few days.
got to dash, I still have some Kuna to spend...
Penny

More images at:

www.colvinyeates.zenfolio.com

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Photos

Korcula
The grand entrance.

Korcula - neighbouring Island
The offending Monastery

Korcula
A sunset is a sunset is a sunset

Dubrovnik
Croatians don't know war

Dubrovnik
Overview

Dubrovnik
From the wall

Dubrovnik
Cafe with a view -