Wednesday 16th October 2024

Korcula to Dubrovnik

A new alarm today, in the form of guys wet sawing the beautifully tiled path outside the owners house- seems problem was bigger than expected.

Given the great brekky yesterday, it was rinse and repeat for us, even our 3 fag lady was there for company.

Our travel plans were still in disarray with no online help from either the booking agent or Ryanair for the flight to Bari.

Gave ourselves a break from the drama and did some more touring around town. Mine host again assisted in lugging Jane’s bag down the stairs so we could put them in storage at the wharf.

We  even found Marco Polo’s  house, attached to St Peter’s church. By chance a tour guide was giving a lecture about the divided opinions on where he was born. She was adamant that he was born in Korcula while it was under Venetian rule, lived there and was gaoled there. 

Supposedly he could not write despite his intellect and whilst in gaol  another inmate became his ghost writer. The question is which urban myth to believe – that of Venice or Korcula.

Ironically it’s the 700th anniversary of his death this year.

Did some laps of the castle and then grabbed a last look at the crystal clear water.

With a 1215 ferry to catch and time to burn we found our spot for a lemonade and internet access to continue solving the flight riddle. After 45 minutes online chatting with Ryanair , we were no better off. Our only hope was the booking agent would come through with check in details and boarding pass information before days end.

Onboard another fast ferry that zipped down the coast, which did not change- rugged and small towns sitting at the bottom of the mountains. Had two stops for small island drop offs before getting our first glimpse of Dubrovnik and guess what – more cruise liners. That said there was plenty of different craft on and around the port.

Like other Croatian towns mansions adorned the waterfront.

Disembarked and soon on a €20 taxi ride to the gates of the old down where we were staying. It was a crush of tourists, with dividing ropes on footpaths to improve the flow of foot traffic. 

It’s a beautiful old town, but impossible to get a photo without a hundred heads in the background. Looks like it will be the album of my mind which will capture its charm.

Found our apartment about 200 metres from gate and with help of a local bar owner had the owner letting us in. In a Herculean feat he simultaneously took our two cases (all 37kgs) up a steep stairwell.

Nice little place, which had apparently been renovated after the 1991 assault of the old town by Yugoslav forces.

After unpacking it was off on a walk around town. It has undergone an amazing reconstruction since the war and the process is still continuing. The usual fill of tourists off the two liners in port- supposedly 5000 people which is amazing given total population is 44k of which only 800 live in the old town.

The only thing there is more of than tourists is steps, with any access away from waterside involving steep steps. We took a wander around the harbour and a few points of interest before challenging a few to check out the chairlift and bus stop to airport.

An amazing view from up high with the port and sea to the west full of boats. A steep downhill walk gave us a great view of the moat that protected the old town – olden day warriors would have struggled if they didn’t come by sea.

The crowds were filing up the stairs onto the old walls- for the meagre cost of €35 . At peak periods they were gathering €1000 every couple of minutes. Must be the best revenue earner in town.

Read the other day that some European towns are restricting tourist numbers because of the crowd crush. Dubrovnik has a two ship per day limit. At one stage it was 4.

As usual an afternoon shop is not complete without a Xmas  decoration purchase. One fascinating thing in all tourist towns has been the obsession with ducks – have we missed a new phenomenon.

Back in the room we anxiously watched the clock to see what happened at 1700 when check in opened. Hallelujah right on the dot confirmation came through that we were checked in and ‘here are your boarding passes’ . Neither of us gave a tinkers that we were at opposite ends of the plane.

Now we just need to manage Friday’s nationwide train strike.

With all that relief all we could do was enjoy a nice meal and demolish a litre of wine. Would swear one of the grandkids painted the table mat.

Not sure if we finished with a gelato – I was on a high.