Cocktails from in a Turret in Korcula

After four hours of what I thought would be a pleasant ferry trip from Dubrovnik to Korcula (pronounced kochula) – it was raining all the way so my visions of sitting on the deck watching the many Croatian islands go past were washed away – literally!

However the rain stopped when I arrived in Korcula.

Korcula is one of the bigger Croatian islands and I stayed in the main town just outside the city walls.  Againm like Dubrovnik, a really pretty place which promotes as it’s claim to fame that Marco Polo was born there.  He lived there until about 17, then went off discovering the world.  As a result there are about 8 Marco Polo shops just in Korcula, all selling Marco Polo souvenirs…. Plus an ice cream shop promoting his ice cream (he brought ice cream as new food back to Korcula from his discoveries, but no one was interested so he took it to Italy).

I didn’t have time to explore the whole island which is about 50km long, but I did go to the beach at Lumbada for a day and swam in the gorgeous water.  Having lived in Australia for 12 years I struggled with the sandy beach; I don’t recommend Croatia for its beaches, the water yes, beaches no.  Croatia is known for it’s crystal clear water, apparently you can see down for 21 meters!

There are two highlights that stand out about my visit,

1. The Moreska dancing, shown here.  The Moreska is a traditional Croatian dance performed by locals and it has been since the 17th century!

It is a dance with swords between two kings and their armies over a girl!

2.  Watching the sunset from the turret bar while sipping a cocktail.  The bar was not one you wanted to drink too much in, as I had to walk up 3 flights of stairs and then a VERY steep ladder to get onto the turret roof.  Drinks were ordered with a waiter at the top, he then phoned down the order and they were pulled up in a basket from a lower floor to be served.

The sunset was amazing, this picture doesn’t do it justice.

I think that Croatia in general has a very European feel to it, and things definitely run on ‘Croatian time’!  Next stop Split.