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| Dubrovnik Bridge with Port in distance |
The morning stared early with a pickup at my hotel from the tour van at 7:45am and one couple was already there. Arleen and her husband from Wexford, Ireland. And after a quick trip to the center of town we picked up Steve and Joy Hill from Queensland Australia and Yvonne from Maryland, USA.
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| Korcula in the distance |
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| Korcula Island |
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| Orebic Water Taxi Dock |
It was a small-group tour and Philip, a very nice young college student was a our driver/tour guide.
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| Irish couple touching the harvested salt, Ston |
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| Old Church in Ston |
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| Water Fountain in Sto |
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| Ston Main Town Square |
The Ston saltworks are the oldest and the biggest preserved ones from the Mediterranean history. Originated as far as the prehistoric period with the form of todays works dating back to the Republic of Dubrovnik and they still perfectly present the complex salt production from the middle ages. The production method has not changed throughout all these centuries, and in such ecological healthy conditions it guarantees the maintaining of an excellent salt quality.
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| Old Church in Ston |
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| Irish Couple at water fountain |
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| Ston Great Wall |
We first stopped to get a picture of the new bridge that takes you to Dubrovnik and then off to enjoy our day.
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| Stone Beach, Orebic |
Located at the south of isthmus of the Pelješac peninsula, Ston was a "major fort of the Ragusan Republic whose defensive walls were regarded as a notable feat of medieval architecture. The town's inner wall measures 890 metres in length, while the Great Wall outside the town has a circumference of 5 km. The walls extend to Mali Ston ("Little Ston"), a smaller town on the northern side of the Pelješac isthmus and the end of the Bay of Mali Ston, notable for its mariculture." The wall, according to our guide, Philip, is the 3rd largest in the world after the Great Wall of China and some Great Wall in Montenegro which I think I get to see on Thursday when I take my day trip there. The wall also it seems can be seen from outer space which is pretty impressive. The Australian couple were very excited and actually walked on the top of the wall because they can now say they've walked the three largest walls in the world. I didn't walk it but I suppose I should have in case some day I get to the Great Wall of China I can say the same as them. But for now I'm happy to say I saw it in person.
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| Passage from one house to another with adorable sculptures, Korcula Island |
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| Korcula Island |
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| Korcula Island |
The town is very tiny but still has a charming town center with a bakery and restaurant and is also know for their salt cultivation that even in the 15th century was an important contributor to the countries wealth and the reason the Wall was built to protect the city's salt business which even today continues and we got to visit the area where the salt accumulates in enormous water-filled (or at least at the moment) squares of land and in the season (summer I presume since the squares are filled to the brim with water) the salt is harvested (or whatever term is correct for collecting the drying salt when the water has evaporated or drained.)
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| Korcula Island |
After leaving Ston we headed up to Orebić, a small seside town where we caught the water taxi to Korcula Island which is stunning with row after row of terracotta roofed houses going up the hill along the water. Korcula is known for it's natural beauty and it's pristine waters and also for the celebrity visitors who came to this area to vacation frequently but also for it's most famous former inhabitant, Marco Polo's who it is supposed was born there. They say supposed because the Italians say he was born elsewhere in Italy but the Korcula residents would strongly dispute that. But either way if he wasn't born there he did in fact live there at one time with his parents and the house he lived in (although in a ruined state now) is still there and can be explored during the high season. We got to only see the outside but it was still beautiful and has a plaque mark Marco Polo's living there.
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| Korcula Island |
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| Coral in a coral shop |
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| Marco Polo's House, Korcula Island |
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| Korcula Island |
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| Marco Polo's House, Korcula Island |
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| Marco Polo's House, Korcula Island |
We had lunch at this wonderful local restaurant in a old fort near the wall that the guide recommended and it was fabulous. We had his suggested dish zrnovski makaruni which is a homemade maccaroni with beef slices in a stew sauce. Really delicious and I sat with the Australian couple and Yvonne who all had the same dish. It was a highly enjoyable lunch and the Steven and Joy told us about their frequent trips to England to visit Steven parents who are both now over 90 years old and how next year he'll come back to England for their 70'th wedding anniversary. Incredible and hopefully they'll both be doing well and enjoy the celebration they have planned. Steve actually seems to go back to England often which is nice. He'll return without his wife who is still working full time in June. Steve it turns out is a funeral director and semi retired. He's a very happy, cheerful kind of guy so interesting line of work he is in.
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| Restaurant where we had lunch |
We all walked around together for a while. It was a wonderful day and for a small town it's well worth visiting for the architecture which was heavenly influenced by Venice and although the St. Marco Cathedral was closed for the afternoon it was still beautiful to peek in the windowed door to see the beautiful architecture inside.
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| Korcula Island |
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| Korcula Island |
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| Korcula Island |
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| Korcula Island |
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| Korcula Island |
We met this very sweet college student who was on her own today because her friends decided to stay in Dubrovnik and we found her near the museum reading a book for literature class back in England where she's going to University now. There was a very diverse group of tourists today but I'm glad I'm here off season because it was so relaxing to just stroll and enjoy the beauty where as Philip said in the high season Dubrovnik has about 20,000 visitors each day and many of those will explore the outer areas like this Island so better to come in April when it's still a quiet although you do miss out on things like going on the Marco Polo house tour.
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| View to Korcula Island |
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| View to Korcula Island |
We took the water taxi back, but this time with a full boat of French tourist who came on a large bus while we were out exploring. And off we went to the wine tasting in Potomje where there are several wineries. I of course didn't sample any but they had a vintage which everyone but me tried that Pope Benedict drank when he visited Croatia a few years ago. The winery is family owned and only sells to Croatian clients and exports occasionally to German and Austria but not that often.
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| Wine Tasting |
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| Wine Vineyard. This Magnolia is always the first to bloom we were told and that's how they know when spring is just about to come |
After another 20 minute beautifully scenic drive we came to Drace, a tiny, tiny village where we got to sample fresh oysters from the natural oyster farm. When we got there a small tour group was already occupying the one large picnic table so we gladly waited and admired the gorgeous lake which the restaurant sits beside. And it turned out the young college girl we met on the Island was part of this group so we chatted a bit more with here and this wonderful older couple from England and to be specific right near where I stayed in Tunstal, Suffolk and they were amazed to hear I'd spent 6 weeks there since there isn't much to do. But I did confess that I fell in love with the area and it was well worth staying there. We had a nice lively chat all together and then they headed off ant the restaurant/oyster farm owners sat us down and then after we ordered some large raw oysters the husband went off to the lake and started collecting them right out of the water. I mean there isn't anyway you could get fresher than that. He then opened and loosened them and brought out a platter for those of us who enjoy them to partake and they were incredible. So delicious and perfect with a little lemon juice and some bread. I'm not sure I'll ever be happy eating another oyster after having these. And I happen to love raw oysters but I imagine friend they would be even more incredible. The wife will also, if you call ahead, cook you up a batch of the muscles they also grow on the farm and I would recommend that to anyone who happens to be in the area. Or just sit and wait until she cooks them up no matter how long it takes because the view across the lake is worth an hour or so of just relaxing and taking it all in. It's actually not a lake but looks like one and is part of the sea but with an underground fresh water source bubbling up and making the water a little less salty and apparently the perfect environment to have an oyster/muscle farm.
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| Drace Oyster farms |
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| Tour guide Philip with restaurant owner and some freshly harvested oysters |
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| Our Oyster platter |
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| Our tour group |
We then continued on toward Dubrovnik making a stop at the World War II memorial just off the hillside road and which was riddled with bullet holes or at least that's how it looked but Philip said it wasn't from the war in the 90's so I'm not sure how those holes were made. Then we made one last stop at the Trsteno Arboretum pretty close to the Dubrovnik bridge and even accessible by public bus from town.
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| Platanus orientalis Tree, Trsteno Arboretum |
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| Platanus orientalis Tree, Trsteno Arboretum |
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| Platanus orientalis Tree, Trsteno Arboretum |
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| Platanus orientalis Tree, Trsteno Arboretum |
There are two, over 500 year old trees, Platanus orientalis, or oriental plane, which are large, deciduous trees of the Platanaceae family. They are breathtaking with enormous branches curling and twisting in unusual ways and one, shaped a bit like a hippopotamus oddly enough is being held up with a stone pilar and the branch has begun to grow around it. "Trsteno Arboretum, located in Trsteno, Croatia, is the oldest arboretum in this part of the world. The arboretum was erected by the local noble family Gozze (see House of Gozze) in the late 15th century, who requested ship captains to bring back seeds and plants from their travels. The exact start date for the arboretum is unknown, but it was already in existence by 1492, when a 15 m span aqueduct to irrigate the arboretum was constructed; this aqueduct is still in use. Trsteno suffered extensive damage and looting during the Yugoslav wars when on October 2 and 3rd, 1991, the Yugoslav People's Army launched a series of gunboat and air attacks and set the Arboretum afire, destroying a large part of it, and causing partial damage to the summer residence and the oldest part of the arboretum. The arboretum was further severely damaged in 2000 by a forest fire during a drought, when around 120,000 square metres were lost in fire but the pride of the arboretum, the two Oriental Planes located on the central market place of Trsteno, survived both disasters undamaged. They are over 500 years old and are unique specimens of its kind in Europe. The ancient trees are both about 45/60 m tall and their trunks are 5 m in diameter."
It was a wonderful day and I was back at my hotel by 7:15pm and now in the lobby doing the blog. And tomorrow is the day trip to Bosnia and Hercegovina which should be really interesting.
