Blogs from Korcula, Dalmatia, Croatia, Europe
May 11th 2012
Il y a quelque chose qui m'agace de plus en plus. Je me fais avoir à chaque fois, c'est inévitable. Tout va bien, la vie est belle, je suis en voyage, je suis heureux. Puis tout d'un coup, sans avertissement, la noirceur. Le vide. L'anxiété. La confusion. Tous mes sens sont en état d'alerte. Que se passe-t-il? Je tâtonne autour de moi, mais je ne trouve pas. Ne cédons pas à la panique, je prends une grande respiration, ça sonne cliché mais dans ce cas-ci je n'ai pas le choix, je dois faire un pas vers l'arrière avant d'aller plus loin vers l'avant. Je sors donc de la salle de bain et là j'allume la lumière. Je vois. L'espoir renait. Je suis soulagé. Non mais pourquoi ils mettent l'interrupteur à l'extérieur de la salle de bain ... read more
Korcula, Croatia to Civitaveccia, Italy
Published: April 23rd 2012Europe » Croatia » Dalmatia » Korcula
April 23rd 2012
Korcula, Croatia to Civitavecchia, Italy Our tour in Korcula (pronounced Kor-chu-la) was both good and bad. Our tour guide was wonderful: the weather; raining and “cool”. We started with a walk through the old town walls into the ancient part of the city. The town claims to be the home of Marco Polo. What they do know is that there was no family Polo in Venice at the time, but there was a Polo family in Korcula back then. We sought refuge from the rain in both the museum and cathedral where we saw a magnificent Tintarello (sp?) painting above the altar. The painting had recently been restored and the colors were brilliant. Another of his paintings hung on the side of the church and it was very dark and difficult to make out. It is ... read more
October 21st 2011
Monday, October 17 We had a leisurely morning in our beautiful suite in Podstrana. As we now had three "open" days with nothing planned, we decided to drive to Ploce and take the ferry to the Peljesac Peninsula. We had a nice drive down the coast along the Makarska Riviera. Beautiful coastline! It took a while to find the ferry in Ploce. We had an hour-long ride across the Korculanski Channel to Trpanj, then drove about 17 km to the coastal town of Orebic, and parked near the ferry dock. We had planned to visit the tourist office to arrange our room, but it was closed in the afternoon. So we found an internet cafe and tried to book a room, but had no time really to wait for email replies. The cafe owner gave us ... read more
August 15th 2011
Armed with our map of Korcula bay, carefully drawn and explained by the artist know as Simon, we boarded the morning Catamaran among the customary hordes, bound for our next Island destination. An hour later we approached a beautiful walled city from the Sea, it resembled a perfect miniature of its bigger brother on the mainland, Dubrovnik. Disembarking we fought our way politely through the room touts, which reminded me of “Slow Boats to China” – where Gavin Young is constantly assailed by mature women at every port soliciting their spare bedroom to supplement their small widow’s income. Not feeling inclined to accept the invitations of these more modern incarnations of Young’s port hosts, we headed off, fully loaded, to follow Simons map the supposed twenty minutes to the campsite on the other side of the ... read more
August 2nd 2011
This morning after our daily jump off the boat we sailed towards Korcula, which was the home of Marco Polo. We arrived after lunch and got off at the wharf. Our guide took us for a walk into the city and showed us Marco Polos house which is now mostly ruins, and the cathedral. We had another group dinner at a pizza place where all the tour groups go, then we walked up a turret to watch the sunset. There was a bar at the top of the turret and they pull any drinks you order up the side of the tower to you. It was really windy up there and we were glad we were wearing shorts because a girl had her dress blown all the way up! I bought a ring which is made ... read more
July 29th 2011
Had wicked thunder storms last night. Kept us awake. The girls were scared. In the morning Cvitka and Daneilla and her daughter Rebecca came over to visit us with gifts for the girls. Rebecca is 6 - so the girls went off to play together. They left her with us for a play and came back later to pick her up. We gave her our floaty things and the flippers - a bit hard to pack. Then we went into town to post some things back to NZ - so we didn't have to carry them around in our suitcases. Meet Marco and his wife Linda in town (from Sydney) - it is the first time Marco has been back to Korcula in 40 years. He was born here and left with his parents for Australia ... read more
July 27th 2011
Today we decided to explore the other side of the Island (far west). We drove past Blato to Vela Luka – it took us 45 mins. Vela Luka has a deep sheltered bay and has the largest population on the Island. We had lunch at Nautica Restaurant which overlooks the Vela Luka harbour. Then we drove to Potirna for a swim, it was 31 degrees today. Potirna is about 7km from Vela Luka. The water was very clear. After a swim and a look around Potirna, we drove past the stone terraced hills near Blato and took some photos, then onto Pupnatska Luka to say bye to Maria and Rocco Posa. We stayed for the rest of the afternoon. Had lots of swims and played with the pebbles. Made a pebble castle – since there is ... read more
July 26th 2011
Got a phone call from Anito this morning – “where are you, why aren’t you here?” So we jumped in the car and drove to Brna. Had lunch (a 3 course meal) with Anito & Marina and Maria. They had to go to work. So we took the girls for a swim in the Bay. The water is beautiful, you can see the fish swimming around in it. Went up to Darikca’s and visited them for the afternoon, her husband took us out to the family vineyards and to look at some views over Smokvica and the vineyards. The girls went with Darikca’s son Ivan, (their cousin) he had keys to the old house on the vineyard (built in 1692) – so we went inside and had a look around – very interesting – he’s been ... read more
July 25th 2011
Korcula Town is a medieval walled town positioned on a oval-shaped swelling of land pointing deep into Peljesac Channel. The Old Town itself is grooved with a succession of narrow streets that branch off the spine of the main street like the fish bone. Fish bone shape was used in Korcula Old Town design to reduce effects of wind and sun and provide citizens with sheltered and comfortable accommodation. The architecture in the Old Town is mainly influenced by Venetian Renaissance. The Old Town center is dominated by the splendid St Mark's Cathedral built in the Gothic-Renaissance style, completed in 15th century at the place of other church from 13th century. There is a local leged that Marco Polo was born in Korcula Town and Marko Polo’s alleged house of birth is worth visiting. Despite its ... read more
July 25th 2011
No rain today and a lot cooler, about 29. Went down to the Bay at Zrnovska Banja and Alice & Marina went snorkeling and had a swim. We walked around the rocks to an old abandoned stone house near the water and Alice found a great place in the water for snorkeling. Came up for lunch at 2pm, then drove to where the car ferry comes in and filled the car up, the only service station that we knew of. It’s close to Lumbarda so we went to a different beach there and the girls had heaps of fun playing on the inflatables in the water – it’s really deep there – so they gave the girls life jackets. Got home just after 5pm. Marin and Marina picked Mark up and they went to their Lawyer ... read more
