Korcula: Wine and Beautiful Vistas

---

Greetings from Korcula! (The island, and town, is pronounced “Kor-chu-la”).

After a leisurely breakfast at Hotel Plecka this morning, we left Dubrovnik at 9:30 for our journey to Korcula, located off the northern end of the Peljesac Peninsula. It was a warmer morning than yesterday, and another bright and sunny day. We drove north from Dubrovnik along the spectacular coastline, winding and twisting along the coast with views of the Elaphiti Islands. These island are protected so are mainly undeveloped. The steep hillsides were covered with lots of olive trees, various fruit trees, and pine trees. We crossed to the Peljesac Peninsula, which is known for its wineries, and we passed lots of vineyards. The grapes grow very low to the ground in this area, and often in terraced areas because of the steep hills.

After about an hour and a half of driving, we stopped at the town of Ston, located on the southern end of the peninsula. It is an extremely cute town with lots of old stone buildings, and amazing stone walls extending high up into the the hills surrounding the town. These defensive walls and towers were built in the 14th C, and originally included 40 towers and 5 forts (20 towers and 5.5 km of the walls are still standing). We stopped into a konoba (a simple restaurant usually serving local traditional food) for oysters, which are very common in this area (there are many oyster farms along the coastline). I don’t eat oysters but Susan said they were excellent. They also included bread, so I had a slice with olive oil and salt (very tasty). We walked around the town a little bit, then rejoined our van to continue our journey.

Our next stop was for a wine tasting at Musej Vina (wine museum) in Putnikovic. There was a history of wine production display on the top floor, above the wine tasting room, which was interesting. Wine production first started in Dalmatia in the 4th C BCE. The area is known for a type of red wine made with the “plavacmali“ grape (which means ”little blue”). We tasted three wines, one white (Marastina) and two reds (both made with the plavacmali grape). I quite liked the white, and though I’m not much of a red wine drinker I didn‘t mind the reds either. We always enjoy wine tastings so we were very happy to try some Croatian wines. The village is called Putnikovic, and the wines we tasted were from the Putnikovic winery.

We continued up the peninsula to Orebic, where we were dropped off at the pier to catch our boat to Korcula. Orebic is a very pretty little coastal town. We hauled our bags onto the boat for our 15 minute ride across to Korcula town, located on the eastern end of Korcula Island. It was an enjoyable boat ride, with beautiful views of Korcula town as we arrived. Korcula is a very beautiful little town, with defensive towers and walls and is full of beautiful old buildings and tiny streets. Renaissance and Gothic architecture abounds.

We were met by a local rep who walked us a short distance to join the hosts of the apartments where we would be staying for the next two nights. Susan and I are at Jacobus Apartments, located right in the old town, just a few minutes away from everything. We have a very cute room, including a little kitchen, and bathroom, and even a little terrace with a nice view. The building is in one of the very narrow little streets in Korcula, and some of our windows are on this street side, overlooking the Marco Polo restaurant also run by the apartment owners. It was quite noisy earlier, with the diners at tables just down from our windows, but has quieted down very nicely now. The restaurant is highly recommended and we plan on eating there tomorrow night.

After we all settled into our apartments (we are at several different places), we met Zigi for a short orientation to the town, then we set off for St. Mark‘s Cathedral, which is a highlight of the town and which I wanted to see. But first, since we were really hungry at this point, not having had lunch and not having any snacks with us, we popped into a bakery and shared a spinach borek, to tide us over until dinner. It was tasty (but not as tasty as the spinach and cheese borek we had in Dubrovnik yesterday). It was about 4 pm by this point. We walked through the old main entry to the town (Veliki Revelin Tower) and through the small square, to get to the cathedral. It was built in the 15th C, of Korculan limestone in a gothic-renaissance style. It is a very beautiful church. Next to the church is the Marco Polo bell tower, which you can climb for an additional fee, to admire the amazing views. Susan decided to wait for me outside, and I headed up. The first part of the stairs are incredibly narrow and steep, and it was quite the climb up! The view from the top was well worth it. I squeezed around the top of the tower (there is just enough room to walk around it in some areas) and admired the beautiful views of Korcula. While I was there I got a text from Susan who said she was having coffee at a cafe, and to look down. I looked down, and there she was! I took in the views, then headed back down the incredible steep stairs to rejoin Susan.

We wandered around a bit, popping in to a few shops, and suddenly the heavens opened and there was a downpour. It had been mostly sunny all day, but a few clouds were coming in later in the afternoon. The rain didn’t last too long, as we huddled under a shop awning to try to avoid getting drenched. As it lessened we quickly walked back our apartment to get our raincoats and umbrellas, and I changed from shorts to pants, and we set off again. The rain had pretty much stopped at this point. We picked up a few groceries at a nearby Konzum shop (sandwiches and snacks for our day trip to Mljet Island tomorrow), then we found the highly recommended Cukarin bakery, which specializes in Korculan cakes. We picked up several different cakes for breakfast tomorrow (klafun - a walnut pastry; and amareta- a round cake with almonds, and something I don’t remember the name of, it looks like a cupcake with marmalade on top).

I dropped off our food in our apartment, and we decided to go to Pizza Tedeschi for dinner. It was recommended by Zigi, and we had an excellent pizza there called Stari Grad (tomatoes, cheese, eggplant, olive oil, garlic, and green olives). It was delicious! Susan accompanied the pizza with a draft Croatian beer and I had a glass (ok, two glasses) of a local white wine called Grk. We wandered back to our apartment, and I got a take away coffee on the way, and we settled in for the night. Tomorrow we have an all day trip to the Mljet Island National Park. The forecast is for sun all day tomorrow so it should be a great day.

---

Photos

Cat by our hotel in Dubrovnik
One of the staff feeds them

Comments

[Chris & Grant Cunnew]

Lucky you
Hi girls, what a fit great place to visit. Have always heard wonderful raves about Croatia from friends who have travelled there. We are really enjoying your blog and the picturesque photos. Just a teensy bit jealous though. We are both well and have a new addition to the family, Benny is a black miniature schnauzer. Grant is finally retired @ 75 and they are great mates. I work 3 days a week since I turned 70 in June. Still fit and enjoying nursing but it has been a challenge during Covid. Keep safe and have a great time. 👋xx

[Waddads Travel]

Lucky you
Hi Chris and Grant, so great to hear from you! Yes, we are lucky indeed to be exploring this beautiful country. I’m glad you are enjoying the blog.

[D MJ Binkley]

Tasting after tasting
I feel to understand a culture you must experience the food. Looks like you are doing a good job... and a bit of wine also. The architecture is lovely also.

[RENanDREW]

Apartments
I'm intrigued by the apartments Lori - is it like a homestay (but without food) or more like an Airbnb that Intrepid is using instead of a hotel? Hope all the apartments were all as lovely as yours sounds :)

[Waddads Travel]

Apartments
I would say it’s more of an Air B&B that Intrepid uses. The apartments we had in Korcula and Hvar were really good, both in excellent locations in the old town, and very local-feeling. The one in Sibenik wasn’t so well located (a bit of a distance from the old town) and we had to share a small kitchen area with others on the floor. It was unfortunate since we were there four days - we really would have liked being right in the old town.

[alex waring]

Beautiful
Gosh, how beautiful. I've rarely read much about Croatia beyond Dubrovnik, so lovely to read about this little place and see the photos. There's nothing like a short boat ride to arrive in a new place I think. And well done on braving the steep stairs - there's often a good view up these things waiting as a reward!

[Waddads Travel]

Beautiful
I really loved Korcula - it was such a lovely old town, so walkable. And yes, the views were well worth the steps!