Sunday, August 27, 2006
18 August, 2006
The apartment was great in every way BUT it was on the main road and the traffic did not stop throughout the night. I did not sleep very well and we had to move- Again. We were planning on staying 3 nights but we had to find somewhere else. So, after breakfast we left to find another parking so that we could leave the car and catch a ferry to Korcula island which is only 15min ride. We drove around, could not find a parking and so we drove the car onto the ferry with us. Easy as that! We arrived in Korcula island and decided to do Korcula town first. They call it a Mini Dubrovnik. It was very pretty and very old and it is famous for Marco Polo’s house. Well, they say he was born here and his house still exists but it got damaged in the war so now there is the Marco Polo tower next door that one can visit. The little streets and alleyways are stunning- all in stone and this little town is buzzing with tourists. Because we had the car we were now curious to see the whole island so we started off in a village called Lumbarda. It is known for its sandy beaches and we walked around a bit, drove to a cove, had a dip in the ocean and left, moving on to the next village. Big Mistake! If I can advise anyone what to do on Korcula island, one needs to see the town and then chill at one of the many beautiful beaches in Lumbarda. Anyway let us carry on with our journey. We drove through all these villages stopping to try and find something interesting but at the end of the day, they were just homes – very old and cute – but nothing new to us. I think the highlight of the day was definitely lunch in the village called Zavalatica. We found this restaurant overlooking the shimmering waters and we sat on the patio with some wine and good fish. It was about 35 degrees in the shade, but it was so magnificent we ignored the heat
The drive through the island was very picturesque and everything was so green. We finally got to the other side of the island called Vela Luka and we decided that we would spend the night here instead of driving back all the way to Korcula again. Big mistake no 2. We went into the tourist information and they found us an apartmani. The old man came to pick us up in his 1960’s car and it was already a whole new experience. We arrived at the apartment in this tiny alleyway only 200m from the tourist info and an old lady greeted us at the door. She could not speak English but we managed to communicate. The room was clean and we were happy. We went to fetch our car and I do not know what possessed us but we drove it up this tiny road and it took a while to manoeuver it into the little parking. We walked around at sunset and managed to find a hill to climb which led to some big cave dating back to 15 000BC. It was disappointing but the views were wonderful. Vela Luka is the 2nd biggest port on Korcula island and there are many ferries that arrive from Split and some other surrounding islands. It is a small town and it is very chilled. Most of the people in the coffee bars are actually locals and not tourists. They can sit there for hours every day with a macchiato and chat about the daily gossip. We got to bed quite early, we were exhausted.
The apartment was great in every way BUT it was on the main road and the traffic did not stop throughout the night. I did not sleep very well and we had to move- Again. We were planning on staying 3 nights but we had to find somewhere else. So, after breakfast we left to find another parking so that we could leave the car and catch a ferry to Korcula island which is only 15min ride. We drove around, could not find a parking and so we drove the car onto the ferry with us. Easy as that! We arrived in Korcula island and decided to do Korcula town first. They call it a Mini Dubrovnik. It was very pretty and very old and it is famous for Marco Polo’s house. Well, they say he was born here and his house still exists but it got damaged in the war so now there is the Marco Polo tower next door that one can visit. The little streets and alleyways are stunning- all in stone and this little town is buzzing with tourists. Because we had the car we were now curious to see the whole island so we started off in a village called Lumbarda. It is known for its sandy beaches and we walked around a bit, drove to a cove, had a dip in the ocean and left, moving on to the next village. Big Mistake! If I can advise anyone what to do on Korcula island, one needs to see the town and then chill at one of the many beautiful beaches in Lumbarda. Anyway let us carry on with our journey. We drove through all these villages stopping to try and find something interesting but at the end of the day, they were just homes – very old and cute – but nothing new to us. I think the highlight of the day was definitely lunch in the village called Zavalatica. We found this restaurant overlooking the shimmering waters and we sat on the patio with some wine and good fish. It was about 35 degrees in the shade, but it was so magnificent we ignored the heat
The drive through the island was very picturesque and everything was so green. We finally got to the other side of the island called Vela Luka and we decided that we would spend the night here instead of driving back all the way to Korcula again. Big mistake no 2. We went into the tourist information and they found us an apartmani. The old man came to pick us up in his 1960’s car and it was already a whole new experience. We arrived at the apartment in this tiny alleyway only 200m from the tourist info and an old lady greeted us at the door. She could not speak English but we managed to communicate. The room was clean and we were happy. We went to fetch our car and I do not know what possessed us but we drove it up this tiny road and it took a while to manoeuver it into the little parking. We walked around at sunset and managed to find a hill to climb which led to some big cave dating back to 15 000BC. It was disappointing but the views were wonderful. Vela Luka is the 2nd biggest port on Korcula island and there are many ferries that arrive from Split and some other surrounding islands. It is a small town and it is very chilled. Most of the people in the coffee bars are actually locals and not tourists. They can sit there for hours every day with a macchiato and chat about the daily gossip. We got to bed quite early, we were exhausted.
# posted by Heidi & Richard's travels @ 2:51 AM 
