Day 11/4: Korčula

I finally organically woke up before the boat left the harbour. I love watching the ships leave shore. It’s also fascinating to watch the boats unlock from each other. I took a short video showing one leave and then completely turn around before heading out to sea.

We sailed past some gorgeous scenery. Lighthouses and rocks and a final view of Vis.

We had a swim stop about halfway to Korčula. The water was a little chillier here but super clear. We stayed anchored for a little while so we got to use the hot tub finally! We can only use it when we are stopped. And the evenings are usually too busy to go to the top deck for relaxing.

After the jacuzzi we read and hung out before lunch. During lunch we sailed past a parasailer and the outside wall of Korčula.

And then pretty quickly after that we headed on a guided tour of the city.

Our guide was low key but knowledgeable. This island definitely has a more chill vibe. I like it a lot. It claims to be the birthplace of Marco Polo but there is some controversy about that with the Venetians. In any case they are renovating his presumed home and it will be open to the public soon.

It’s pretty impossible to get lost here too which is a good thing for me. There is one main old town area. It is shaped like a fish bone with one central main road and many spines coming off for side streets. They were very smart when they built it. The due west streets from the central street are straight from the marina allowing the maestral winds to come through and cool down the town centre.

Peek-a-boo view of the bell tower

All the due east streets are curved to protect from the colder winds coming through. Natural air conditioning!

Shopping streets

It was still very hot and humid in the sun but less so today. The rain is coming for sure. We stopped in a few shady spots and learned about the main church, court, and entrance made entirely out of limestone (which is very slippery by the way).

Cathedral

The old law courts

Old city gate

Oleander flowers

We explored the city a bit more. We looked at the famous red coral jewelry (make sure you get a certificate of authenticity). We found a posta and got stamps. I posted my postcards to the kids finally! Capri ones are in the mail already. Any bets how long it will take for the kids to get them?

We headed back to the marina and stopped at the cocktail bar that is at the top of one of the remaining 8 semi-circular fortress towers. They tore down all the exterior walls except one but left the main wall intact. The left all the towers as they weren’t taking up valuable street room and were not effecting the cooling of the city but the walls were taking valuable room.

We walked up the crazy stairs and ladder to the very top. We had a great view. The drinks we ordered came up on a little pulley system on the outside. Very cool.

A view of our boat from the tower

Many versions of gin

We all went as a group to dinner at a traditional Croatian place called Belin’s. The owner was very proud of his “little village” and gave us a tour, a history lesson and traditional grappa and figs. Green for the boys, yellow for the girls. Apparently men have stronger institutions. I’m not sure he has met Newfoundlanders before. They are equally hardy!

Afternoon rays

View of the old village

Our open air bus ride to dinner

Then we went for a traditional peka meal. It was 4 courses of charcuterie, homemade macaron pasta and meat sauce. Then the most anticipated bell dinner. Meat and potatoes and veggies are all cooked together under this iron bell and cooked under a real fire. Very cool to see but so hot! And very delicious to eat. They had so many varieties of meat which was a treat after all the fish we have had lately. Oh and did I forget to say unlimited wine?

Peka

Right before dessert, the heavens opened and we had a major thunderstorm with rain coming in sideways at us. Luckily we were mostly covered and had lots of wine to drink while we waited out the storm.

Once back on the boat, no one was ready to hit the hay. We started a mini party which turned into a real party and eventually a dance off with another boat. B even pulled out a pole dance to Pour some sugar on me and got 10kuna stuffed in his shirt.

We clearly won! See the video below. Madonna brings out the best in everyone.

We continued the party upstairs after we got kicked out of the main salon. We had tried to stay longer by locking the staff out. All in good fun but it didn’t work, we let him back in. B had his speaker and Spotify so we were fine. We even had our own “spotlight runway”.

The blue upstairs lighting added to the ambiance and made for hilarious pictures. We finally went to bed after the turned off all of the ship’s lights and no more alcohol was left to buy.

Up next: Mljet

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