Farewell to Korčula

Monday, 4 May 2009. We are still in Korčula and have made our way round the town after crossing the hill and reaching the coast on the other side of the island.

Walking a little further we found we were at the foot of the steps from the fortified gateway that we saw on my previous entry.

Moving down the street opposite there was a low ring of stone around a large decorated bowl and we sat on the stone wall whilst I sketched the gateway.

Not one of my best efforts, I have to say, as I made the gateway opening much too big and therefore realised that the steps would have to stop going up! But hey - it passed some time and it is at least recognisable!

Just a short distance away was the seafront and a squat and very robust looking tower in the Martello style.

A pleasant circular sun-trap gave us a view of Ocean Village Two from this very attractive area.

Looking away from the town centre along the coast.

We set off to walk along the coast past the Martello tower and found ourselves back at the spot where the tender boats were pulling in, having walked a complete circle around the city.

The tender boats were bobbing up and down a bit and some of the passengers remarked how rough it was. I sincerely hope they never see a rough sea then, if they thought that was rough! I think I'd have called it slight!

So this concludes our look at Korčula and, indeed, Croatia for this holiday. Tomorrow will see us in Corfu.

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Ancient Korčula

Monday, 4 May 2009. We continue our look around Korčula.

The maze of streets and alleyways is not really a maze at all. The crown of the city up on the hill is very straightforward to navigate. The gateway that we walked away from earlier turns out to be far more spectacular on the other side, with this fabulous staircase, sweeping down to a lower level. The winged lion of Venice is carved onto the front of the gate's tower and in fact the Venetian influence can be seen throughout the town. There are other influences though.

Before we venture into the newer part of Korčula, we go back through the gateway again to the little square to the rear.

I loved this elegant row of what look like shelf supports without a shelf! Perhaps a balcony was planned? Some of the carvings under the supports are a bit bizarre - the end one is a female figure squatting over a hole in the ground... Very educational for small boys I'm sure but, what the heck?!? I'm all for quirkiness though!

And another - blimey! The local carver must have had a fetish...!

Another small square fronting a church. Next to the church people are climbing to what looks to be a watch tower. Whether for spotting shoals of fish or pirate ships I'm not sure. The Mediterranean and Adriatic were plagued by pirates from North Africa for centuries.

This restaurant had a sign claiming that "Marco Polo found great food and love in this house. The tradition continues." Huh? He still comes in? There was definitely a family named Polo living here at the appropriate time, but no actual records to suggest it was Marco Polo's family, so I gather. But hey - it could have been! Or they could have been experimenting with mint and holes... There are plenty of accounts that assert he was born here in 1251, but this is disputed by Venice which also claims to be his birthplace.

So... great food and love... That does sort of leave you wondering whether the place was a knocking shop and he barged in shouting "Is the slim one in room six free? Oh bugger, well bring me a plate of stew whilst I wait...!" And then the tradition continues? Hmmm, well I didn't get the chance to discover, but I doubt it somehow! More likely either the Polo family ran an inn, or perhaps it was just their home and the great food was of the sort "You say it's great, husband, or you no have great love tonight!!!"

Oh and here's an example of those other influences I mentioned. This carving on a wall end shows a more Mongol influence than Venetian, don't you think? The Polos, including Marco himself spent much time in the company of the great Kublai Khan and he came back laden with riches and having somewhat gone native as it were.

So Korčula is a fascinating place to visit and I can thoroughly recommend it. We'll stay here for one more blog entry before we up sticks and leave as there's a bit more to see yet!

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Korčula, Croatia

Monday, 4 May 2009. We are sailing through a number of Croatian islands towards Korčula.

There's some wonderful scenery, set into the deep blue of the Adriatic Sea.

We are up early, taking advantage of the view from the open deck. Groups of islands come into view, loom large for a moment, then shrink again as we carry on away from them. Croatia has over 1,000 islands off its coast.

Korčula itself is both island and town and eventually we anchor just off both and are ferried in by the Ocean Village Two's tender boats.

We had decided just to get off and explore on our own rather than take an excursion.

Korčula is quite an easy town to explore with many things to see all within a small area.

A grand sweeping staircase of stone led up from the harbour road towards the town centre. The ancient part of town is built on and around a hill and many small alleyways lead off the main streets.

A glance up one of them showed a community of cats, some of them eating something which had been put out for them, a dam stretched out, feeding her kittens. There was something strangely ancient and pleasing about the scene and you knew that you could have walked past this alley a hundred or more years ago and seen exactly the same.

We came to a little square with an imposing gateway behind us. This was to prove even more imposing from the other side, but for now we elected to set our backs to it and walk up the hill through the narrow, colourful streets.

The winged lion symbol of Venice was in evidence here and there but, as we shall see, there are other mementos of different cultures to be found.

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