1/7/11 Korcula

Old cistern on Korcula wall

Joyce and the old Italian

In Korcula, we wandered thru the old city, visiting the Ikone Museum and Cathedral of St. Mark. At one point, we encountered an old Italian gentleman our guide had been telling us about – came there many years ago, married a local, and never learned the language. Joyce immediately went over to talk to him – her maternal ancestors were Polos, and there were a great number of photos taken of the two of them posing and chatting. He was sitting and she was standing next to him, leaning over to hug him on occasion, and there was a roar of laughter at one point – apparently, he had taken some liberty given the location of his head in comparison to her chest. That, unfortunately, was the highlight of the tour. There was a lot of standing around and it got chillier as we went along. It was also pretty windy, and it was somewhat of a relief to go into the churches and museums, except that the temperatures inside were mostly colder. Vivi and Alan had arranged for a popular pastry shop owner to open up for us. She uses a unique family recipe to make cookies with almond filling as well as candied almonds and other goodies. We got samples and bought a fair share of products.

Old Town Korcula. Our boat is the one at the left.

After lunch, we went on a group hike for 1.25 hours up near the top of the island, along some of the main roads. It was not challenging, but did provide a couple good view points. There was another hike that they had mapped out, but Jim was under the weather, so I walked him back to the boat and headed out on my own. I went back into the old city, hoping to find some of the shops I had seen earlier, however, EVERYTHING except bars were closed up tight so I called it a day.