Monday, October 18, 2004

Croatia - the final days

An update on our last couple of days in Croatia.

We travelled out to Korcula on one of the regular ferries - it was a bit rainy when we left but, as with the trip to Cavtat, it was quite a bit stormier when we were out at sea! The ferry did quite a bit of rolling around. At one stage we looked over and the poor woman who threw up on our Cavtat trip was sitting near us, again looking a bit green and no doubt unhappy with her husband for making her go on a boat again! The weather did clear up about an hour out of Korcula and we had a lovely view of the city, which again is a walled medieval town on a prominent spit of land.

After landing, we organised some accomodation at a private house in the old town. Quite a bit cheaper than in Dubrovnik but a very basic room. It did have a TV though so we were able to watch Croatian Big Brother. Sadly we were not able to find a bar with satellite TV during our trip so couldn't watch the programme that Simon produces,
MTV Wishlist.

Had some lunch at Pizzeria Amphora in the old town and went for a wander around the streets. Korcula Town has very similar architecture to Dubrovnik, but everything seemed to be shut for the afternoon siesta which was a shame as it was quite rainy! Later on the afternoon we caught some much needed sun and chatted to an American guy in a local bar. He recommended a bar called Massimo which has taken over one of the old towers in the city wall. We climbed up to the top, about three levels up included a narrow ladder, and had a beer. The waitress, Ivana, took our orders and a pulley system delivered the drinks to the top of the bar. Very nifty! We ate out at a BBQ like place called Adio Mare and met some Melbournians.

Thankfully the next day was a little sunnier. After visiting the local Konzum supermarket for breakfast items, we went to catch the 12.00 bus to Lumbarda but decided to wait for an hour as school was out for the day and it was an absolute scrum to get on the bus! We had a couple of hours sitting on the beach, watching the learner windsurfers before we came back to Korcula town.

After cocktails at Massimo again, we went to the Marco Polo restaurant for dinner. Marco Polo is allegedly originally from Korcula so he gets loads of namechecks. A fantastic last dinner!

We had to catch the 6.30 AM bus back to Dubrovnik the next morning - the bus left Korcula town and then went on a small ferry to Orebic on the mainland. It was a bit of a windy, if spectacular ride - poor Li-Ann was left feeling a little queasy!

Once we arrived in Dubrovnik again, we decided to visit the Aquarium which was OK. Sadly none of the advertised sea horses were in evidence and there were loads of slimy eels, but we did see a turtle, sadly swimming around in its tank. Had a lovely lunch at Lokanda, our favourite lunch and convinced some timid Americans to try the delicious cuttlefish risotto, the calamari and the small fish!

Hopefully I'll have a link to our photos to post up here soon.

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