Blogs from Korcula, Dalmatia, Croatia, Europe - page 2

À 175 kilomètres à l'ouest de Dubrovnik, il faut compter un peu plus de 3 heures pour rejoindre l'île de Korčula. Vous me direz que c'est un peu long pour parcourir une si courte distance... Détrompez-vous! Le temps défile très vite à travers ce paysage époustouflant! D'un côté, les Alpes dinariques avant qu'elles ne deviennent les Balkans plus à l'est, et de l'autre, l'éternel bleu marine de l'Adriatique perlée de centaines d'îles dont plusieurs sont inhabitées. Une seule route longe la péninsule, large pour deux voitures par endroits. Elle est parfois vertigineuse, parfois en épingles à cheveux, perchée au bord d'un précipice qui n'est protégé que par une simple barre de métal en guise de parapet... Mais on ne ferme pas les yeux...on fait confiance au chauffeur qui lui garde non seulement les siens sur la ... read more

Korcula is the sixth largest Croatian island and barely seperated from the mainland. This ancient city is also known for its architecture. One of the tourist attractions is the alleged house of birth of Marco Polo, which is now a museum of Marco Polo. Also, Korcula is the only place that the sword dance, Moreska, is still performed. It is a world famous folk drama that used to be performed all over the medditeranean.... read more

These next couple of entries will be quite photo heavy - mainly as not only are the locations really beautiful, but I did not do much at all. Although in the end I did enjoy Dubrovnik, I was quite relieved to move on to one of the islands, where the chances of masses of cruise ships was less of a possibility. After a lovely drive along a peninsula, we stopped at a town called Ston (I think), which appropriately had the largest continuous wall outside of China. Then it was more of a drive to a ferry, then 15 minutes later we were on Korcula, where immediately we felt much more relaxed. It was a small town where everything was in easy strolling distance and we were lucky enough to stay in private apartments in the ... read more

We got up early and caught the correct cab that Ivana had called for us at 7:10 am. We went to the harbor and got our ferry tickets to Korcula. The ride was 8:30 – 12:30. We sat on the interior of the bow, and had a nice view. We sat with a couple from Columbus, OH, who were traveling in the same fashion as we were, so we had lots of stories to exchange. We arrived at Korcula at 12:30. It is beautiful to approach the old city by water. The old city is surrounded by walls, and the streets are arranged in a fish skeleton pattern, with the main street running from top to bottom, allowing free circulation of air through the fish ribs but protecting against strong winds. The winds are referred to ... read more

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