August 19, Friday - Korcula, Croatia

Korcula is a charming city on the island of Korcula in Croatia. This is not far from where we started this journey in Vis on the catamaran charter that Sean gave us for my 80th birthday. This was a tender port. 

The town is known for being the birthplace of Marco Polo. His home is said to be here as well. Sadly, some of the coast approaching the town has been marred by building ultra-modern hotels and resorts.

From the tender pier, we walked to the wall that surrounds the old city. Lanes branch from the main path with many stairs leading to the upper levels of shops, churches, and residences. 

Of course, the objective is to visit Marco Polo’s home. The lemmings stayed on the main path of the wall. The Finns took a narrow stairway up. We passed shops that had not yet opened and several restaurants that were setting up for coffee. This was all very pleasant and eventually, we came to the square at the “top” of the city. Here we found some of the Ship’s tours so we knew we had done well.

There was a large church here that was not open. Around the corner from it was a wall with a large map showing the route of Marco polo. We looked at it and took some pictures. Then we set off in search of the house.

After a few bad starts, we asked at a shop where the house was. We followed the shopkeeper's directions and ended up at a wall with a gate in it that had a handwritten sign stating that it was Marco Polo’s House. There was nothing to see inside the gate. Could this be? we thought not. 

Back to the courtyard next to the church we went. A tour group led by a local guide in costume was just coming into the square. We asked her about the house. She told us that the house was behind the wall with the map and people live in it. It is not a museum or anything of that sort. We went back around to the gate with the sign. There, Alice noticed a plaque high on the wall above the stairs of the lane we were on. It declared this to be the home. We had done it. We are not sure how many others did. No one was taking pictures of that plaque.

We returned to the city wall and completed our walk around it. As we were looking for postcards outside a shop, a light rain started to fall. we decided we would not melt and kept on walking. We were glad that we did because in just a few minutes the rain stopped.

Inside the turret

We had a long walk along the shoreline. The water was very clear and several were swimming in it. The bottom was full of pebbles and some swimmers wore beach shoes.

We passed what appeared to be a convent. There was a nun standing on the balcony looking down. Pretty soon she was on the street in front of the building with her cell phone in hand. Clearly, she was waiting for someone. We walked on before her ride came.

Farther along we came to a church with what looked like monastery buildings. The sign referenced Dominican so we assume it was a monastery. We went down a path to the water’s edge behind the church. A narrower path took us to a small protected boat harbor. These appeared to be fishing boats but we did not see any nets. We will just stick to that story.

We walked back to the road and up the hill a short way. There was a concrete parking area for a hotel nearby that made a good overlook. It was there that we noticed a swimming pool and some swings on the side of the hill above the small boat harbor. The pool was empty.

We then walked down the hill and along the shore back to the tender pier. Korcula was a charming small town to visit. Another passenger suggested that it was rather like Disney World. He meant that in a positive way. We agree.

Tall steeple is next to Marco Polo's home

There are many nice hotels and rooms for rent along the shore. It would be nice to return here. One could come by ferry from Split and spend a few days in peace before moving on to other things.

What a nice way this was to end our ports of call. 

Another wonderful day on Oosterdam