Korcula, Croatia
Early this morning we awoke to the sound of the engines coming back to an idle and then being shut down. If we were at a pier this would not be unusual, but we were underway for Korcula. It was just before sunrise, and as we came up on deck there was a fresh southeasterly breeze, and we were under sail. It was a fine way to start the day as the sun rose over the mainland just off of the port quarter of the Panorama. The winds took us very close to our pilot station which worked out quite well, so later in the morning the sails were furled, the pilot boarded and we were alongside in Korcula just before our walking tour was to depart.
Korcula is good sized island just off of the Pljesac peninsula in Croatia. It was first settled by the Greeks and the main town sits on an oval section of land on the northeast end of the island. The walls and layout of the town were mostly established by the Venetians who arrived in the tenth century and remained for about eight centuries.
Two local guides met us at the pier and led us through the herringbone street layout of this picturesque town. The old town is quite small but unique in that these streets were designed to take advantage of the cooling effects of the summer winds and deflect the winter winds and rain, but make it easy to get to the outer walls in case of raids or other attacks. This tour included a visit to St. Mark’s cathedral, the Bishop’s Palace and the Church of All Saints. After this there was free time to explore the town on our own before lunch was served.
In the afternoon we boarded a local motor coach and ventured out to wander through the vines of a local vineyard near the village of Lumbarda. We were lucky to be here during the harvest but before all of the grapes had been gathered. The most popular of the wines from this island is Grk. The leaves were beginning to change color and the grapes seemed to be ready to jump off of the vines on their own. After this we went on to the Milina –Bire family winery. This winery has been producing wine for centuries and they were in the midst of harvest but very welcoming to us for a tasting. We had ample quantities of their white and red wines as well as different types of their local liquers, prosciutto ham, salted fish, homemade goat cheese and garden fresh tomatoes. I feel safe in saying that no one went away unsatisfied.
We had one more stop to make before the day was done. Upon returning to Korcula we made our way to the summer theater to enjoy a traditional Moreska sword dancing performance. The dance tells a tale of a battle between the White King (dressed in red), and a Black King, along with their supporting troops over a stolen “veiled woman” or princess. The Black King being the one who did the kidnapping and the White King fighting to get her back. The brass band played, swords sparked and at the end of the dance and the battle, the Princess was free to return to the White King. We walked back to the Panorama for dinner and then got underway later in the evening to travel farther north on the Croatian coast.
