Korčula Island

Tuesday 1 October

The boat set sail at 7 a.m. when most of us were either still in bed or just getting out. It was a beautiful sight to come up on board to watch our departure from Hvar Town and the early morning light which was casting a lovely glow over the islands, the sea and sky. It was a spectacular morning.

We had breakfast as the boat motored across to Korčula Island arriving about 10.30 a.m. at Račišće. We set off on a lovely undulating coastal ride of about 15 kms to Korčula Town where we are berthed for the night. It is incredibly picturesque. They say that Marco Polo was born here.

After a cooked lunch on board, we cycled to Lumbarda, a village about 5 kms SE of Korčula Town. This has a lovely pebbly beach - Bilin Žal - where we lazed around in the sun or at tables and chairs in the shade of kabanas with dried palm fronds as the roof. A few braved the crystal clear water for a swim - I'm told it was a tad cool; I dipped my feet in and didn't think it too bad. This photo of My Friend's is better than mine:

My Friend is developing a reputation for his "dad" jokes ... He also managed to get "lost" today temporarily on the morning ride.

Back at the boat, we changed quickly to go into town while the light was still good. There is a grand staircase that leads up to the main entrance of the Old Town and the other main sight is the Gothic and the Renaissance St Mark's Cathedral (14th century) with its alterpiece painting Three Saints by Tintoretto.

The smaller Gothic church of St. Peter dating from the 14th century is also an attractive building.

We continued wandering around the Old Town where the main street (unusually for a medieval town) has been carefully designed to resemble a fish skeleton with the western streets oriented straight to allow the refreshing NW Maestral winds to cool the town and the eastern streets are curved to keep out the SW Jugo winds.

Dinner was upstairs in a pleasant konoba where we had good wine and food as a group of 6 - Marie & Steve from the States plus Bernie & Chris from NZ.