Orebić, Lumbarda, Sweet Treats at Marko Polo's House, and Cocktails in a Turret
Days 4 and 5 in Croatia: Korčula
Seeking sandier beaches where there are no sea enemas, we caught a ferry over to Orebić (2.5km away), on the Pelješac Peninsula, which is reputed to have the best beaches in southern Dalmatia.
Bye Bye Korčula...
Hello Orebić
As advised by the LP, we skipped the beaches right there on the west of the dock and headed east until we found the long sandy Trstenica Cove, where the water is blue and clear and tranquil.
Then we caught the ferry back to Korčula. We had planned on popping into one of the local pastry shops near our place called Cukarin in the morning before we left for Orebić as their scrumptious traditional pastries were highly rated by the LP and (being Foodies) we just couldn't resist. But we got there a bit late and they'd already sold out (they only have a tiny display). The lady told us to come back again later when they re-opened for the afternoon and she'd made some more. So, we arrived back in Korčula and headed back and were treated to some tasty samples. She only has four types of pastries, which are the cukarin (a weird-shaped, dry, melt-in-your mouth, orangey-lemony, sweet), klašun (a pastry ball filled with a combination of walnuts and rose brandy), amareta (another ball-shaped sweet with ground almonds and lemon and orange flavours which apparently has secret aphrodisiac powers), and the bombica "Marko Polo" (a 'calorific' chocolate cannon ball filled with fine cream, minced walnuts). We tried each of these and left with some delicious booty (the treasure kind, not bum).
This is the lady who makes them and the tiny display case of what she sells. The shop sells other stuff too like oils and handicrafts, but this is what we were there for.
With our afternoon snacks in hand, we sauntered over to the Marko Polo House and started climbing the stairs up to the Tower (not the one in the background here, that's St Mark's Cathedral).
There's not really too much to see or do in the Marko Polo House. There's some posters with history and photos of Korčula and Marko Polo. So, we climbed to the top, took in the view from the Tower and enjoyed our Cukarin treats. This is the oddly shaped cukarin sweet. We saved the amareto for last. Oh yeh, and Tam bought some Havaiana's too. The plain ones they sell for about £18 in London (close to $45-50 each!), but in Croatia we got the fancy ones for only 120 Croatian kuna (about a decent $27).
As we hadn't had enough lazing about on the beach yet, the next day we decided to catch the bus to Lumbarda (about 15 minutes away). We drove past high-priced 5-star luxury resorts, the small beachside town of Lumbarda, churches and through vineyards. The bus driver dropped us off at the end of the vineyards and then we walked down the long dusty road to the sandy ocean beach of Plaza Pržina. This was probably the best little beach we went to. Calm, clear, relaxing blue water where you could wade out about 50m before it got deep. And little curious fish would swarm around your feet and follow where you went. Sadly, we forgot to take a photo. It was a really nice beach.
Later on, we made our way back to Korčula town and decided to kick it up and have a couple of cocktails (we so miss Kuleto's).
So on we went to the Cocktail Bar Massimo, which is on top of a turret. You have to climb a ladder (not good when you wear skirts) to get up there and they pulley the drinks up.
They've also got a lounge-y area in the middle, but where's the fun in that, eh?
Afterwards, we climbed back down and made our way back through the old part of town, where we found a guitar group giving a concert inside the Town Hall area. And they weren't too bad neither.
Then we headed back home via the (daily and) nightly street markets near the entrance to the old city. Thus concluded our excellent adventure in Korčula.
Seeking sandier beaches where there are no sea enemas, we caught a ferry over to Orebić (2.5km away), on the Pelješac Peninsula, which is reputed to have the best beaches in southern Dalmatia.
Bye Bye Korčula...
Hello Orebić
As advised by the LP, we skipped the beaches right there on the west of the dock and headed east until we found the long sandy Trstenica Cove, where the water is blue and clear and tranquil.
Then we caught the ferry back to Korčula. We had planned on popping into one of the local pastry shops near our place called Cukarin in the morning before we left for Orebić as their scrumptious traditional pastries were highly rated by the LP and (being Foodies) we just couldn't resist. But we got there a bit late and they'd already sold out (they only have a tiny display). The lady told us to come back again later when they re-opened for the afternoon and she'd made some more. So, we arrived back in Korčula and headed back and were treated to some tasty samples. She only has four types of pastries, which are the cukarin (a weird-shaped, dry, melt-in-your mouth, orangey-lemony, sweet), klašun (a pastry ball filled with a combination of walnuts and rose brandy), amareta (another ball-shaped sweet with ground almonds and lemon and orange flavours which apparently has secret aphrodisiac powers), and the bombica "Marko Polo" (a 'calorific' chocolate cannon ball filled with fine cream, minced walnuts). We tried each of these and left with some delicious booty (the treasure kind, not bum).
This is the lady who makes them and the tiny display case of what she sells. The shop sells other stuff too like oils and handicrafts, but this is what we were there for.
With our afternoon snacks in hand, we sauntered over to the Marko Polo House and started climbing the stairs up to the Tower (not the one in the background here, that's St Mark's Cathedral).
There's not really too much to see or do in the Marko Polo House. There's some posters with history and photos of Korčula and Marko Polo. So, we climbed to the top, took in the view from the Tower and enjoyed our Cukarin treats. This is the oddly shaped cukarin sweet. We saved the amareto for last. Oh yeh, and Tam bought some Havaiana's too. The plain ones they sell for about £18 in London (close to $45-50 each!), but in Croatia we got the fancy ones for only 120 Croatian kuna (about a decent $27).
As we hadn't had enough lazing about on the beach yet, the next day we decided to catch the bus to Lumbarda (about 15 minutes away). We drove past high-priced 5-star luxury resorts, the small beachside town of Lumbarda, churches and through vineyards. The bus driver dropped us off at the end of the vineyards and then we walked down the long dusty road to the sandy ocean beach of Plaza Pržina. This was probably the best little beach we went to. Calm, clear, relaxing blue water where you could wade out about 50m before it got deep. And little curious fish would swarm around your feet and follow where you went. Sadly, we forgot to take a photo. It was a really nice beach.
Later on, we made our way back to Korčula town and decided to kick it up and have a couple of cocktails (we so miss Kuleto's).
So on we went to the Cocktail Bar Massimo, which is on top of a turret. You have to climb a ladder (not good when you wear skirts) to get up there and they pulley the drinks up.
They've also got a lounge-y area in the middle, but where's the fun in that, eh?
Afterwards, we climbed back down and made our way back through the old part of town, where we found a guitar group giving a concert inside the Town Hall area. And they weren't too bad neither.
Then we headed back home via the (daily and) nightly street markets near the entrance to the old city. Thus concluded our excellent adventure in Korčula.
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10:15 PM
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