Korcula and Dubrovnik - the Dalmatian Coast at its Best

On the 23^rd, we moored in the bay off the Croatian island of Korcula after sailing further south along the coast of Croatia.  For the first time, we didn’t dock in the port but needed to take tenders into the port.  It was a bit tricky as the water was pretty bumpy making it not so easy to get on and off those boats.

Korcula is a Croatian island with an area of 108 square miles just off the Dalmatian coast.  It stretches in an east-west direction and is about 47 km long and 8 km wide.  There are several main settlements on the island including Korcula, Vela Luka and Blato.  Our short time here really wasn’t sufficient to get the feel for the island.

The town of Korcula was founded in the 12^th century BC by Antenor, a Trojan hero who is also credited with having founded the city of Padua.  The area was actually inhabited by Mesolithic and Neolithic groups and later by the Illyrians, a semi-nomadic group, around 1000 BC.  The old town of Korcula is believed to have been the birthplace of the merchant traveler Marco Polo. The island has seen some turbulence over the past century having been occupied by Italy, Germany, and Yugoslavia before finally becoming part of the Republic of Croatia in 1991.

I had seen Korcula once briefly a couple of years ago when the ferry I was taking from Dubrovnik to another Croatian island called Hvar stopped here.  It looked very pretty and I was looking forward to exploring it further.  Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t really cooperating as the day had started off rainy and gloomy.  However, by mid-morning the clouds had lifted and we were greeted with some sunshine.

Our tour started on the outside of the town’s medieval walls.  The town is surrounded by 14^th century defensive wall and towers.  On the northern end of the Old Town is the Kanavelic Tower built in 1488. We made our way into the centre and up the ancient stairs to the cathedral.  We had passed lots of pretty little alleys and narrow streets on our way there.  

As we had visited many (innumerable) cathedrals over the last few days, I decided to leave the tour just as it was about to enter St, Mark’s Cathedral (completed in the 15^th century) and explore the town on my own.  One person remarked “this is the ABC cruise – another bloody cathedral!”  Besides, I wanted to take some photos.  On these walking tours, one rarely gets the opportunity to stop and take photos and, even if you do, any pictures you take are filled with the other people in your group.  Usually, just as you are about to frame the perfect shot, some unobservant fellow traveller steps in front of you.  So, I was happy to be on my own for a bit.  We only had a couple of hours in Korcula so I was back on the ship early, by 11 am.  It seemed to me it might be a place to come back to and explore further rather than just wander around the tiny town. 

The afternoon was spent cruising further south down the Dalmatian coast to Dubrovnik where we docked about 5 pm.  While we had the opportunity to visit the town in the evening, I didn’t bother.  I had spent 7 days here just two years ago. 

The neighbourhood of Lapud in Dubrovnik where I had rented an apartment 2 years ago.

Dubrovnik is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranean.  Its total population is about 45,000 and, in 1979, the old town was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site because it is considered to be one of the best preserved medieval walled cities in the world.  Lord Byron referred to it as “the Pearl of the Adriatic”.  Of course, these days, it also enjoys some notoriety as a location for the TV series, Game of Thrones!  

The prosperity of Dubrovnik was historically based on maritime trade.  As the capital of the Republic of Ragusa, a maritime republic, the city achieved a high level of development, particularly during the 15^th and 16^th centuries and became notable for its wealth and skilled diplomacy. 

The last time I was here I walked around the city wall.  It is a very impressive walk with stunning views over the town, up to the mountains, and out to sea. This time, I didn't do much other than wander down the Strana, the city's main wide and marbled street; out to the old harbour; and then back along some familiar alleyways through the Pile Gate back to the shuttle bus.  

There is no question this city is a wonderful place and it rightly deserves its reputation as a popular tourist destination.  The only issue is that the town is swarming with them making it hard to move around!  Again, because it was all so familiar, I headed back to the ship early.  Dubrovnik, in my opinion, is best in the evening when the tour buses are gone and it is a quiet medieval city.

Split and Beyond

Note:  The cruise is finished and I am now in Athens.  I should have pretty good WiFi for the rest of my trip so I will endeavour to get caught up and post more often.  Thank you for your patience!

We sailed overnight from Ancona to Split, our next port.  The city is on the eastern shore of the Adriatic and is centred on the Roman Palace of the Emperor Diocletian.  It is the second largest city of Croatia, and the largest of the Dalmatian cities.  Spread over a central peninsula and its surroundings, Split’s greater area includes the neighbouring seaside towns.  Split is one of the oldest cities in the area.  While it is traditionally considered just over 1700 years old, counting from the construction of Diocletian’s Palace in 305 AD, research relating to the original founding of the city as the Greek colony of Aspalathos in the 4^th century BC, establishes the urban history of the area as being several centuries older. 

Old Split town lies inside Diocletian’s Palace and is a medieval maze of back streets filled with shops, cafes and bars.  There is no charge to enter the palace independently.  In addition to the medieval town, there is a wide and long promenade lined with palm trees between the old city walls and the seafront.  There are numerous cafes and restaurants along it to choose from.  The harbour is teeming with yachts, ferries and cruise ships. 

The palace itself was built by Emperor Diocletian during the 4^th century and was intended to be his retirement home.  Although it is commonly called a palace, it is perhaps better described as a fortress – half used as the Emperor’s personal home, the other half for military purposes.  We explored the mausoleum and the palace cellars.  In later centuries, a medieval town began to grow around the palace ruins and after the Venetians fortified the city and developed it further, it became a key port in the Venetian Republic.  During the 7^th century, Diocletian’s mausoleum, the resting place of the once persecutor of the Christians, came to a somewhat ironic fate when the enormous octagonal edifice was converted into the Cathedral of St. Domnius. 

We also saw the Peristyle Square and went through the cellars which today are mainly filled with shops.  

Our visit also included a visit to the Split City Museum where one can see Diocletian’s dining table, the only artifact remaining from that time.  I am not sure I "get" artifacts - but many people on the tour thought this was amazing!

Our afternoon excursion, the only one on the cruise for which you had to pay extra ($35USD, visited two nearby places:  Salona and Trogir.  Salona was first settled by the Illyrians and was conquered by the Romans in 78BC.  It became a Roman colony around 33BC under Octavian.  As the Romans conquered the rest of the region, Salona became its capital.  While we were there, we saw basically what was a former cemetery filled with ancient sarcophagi and then walked down the hill to where you can look across what was formerly the old city.  There is apparently a theatre you can see but we didn’t get there.  It was the consensus of the people I was with that it was basically just one more site with Roman ruins.  I wouldn’t recommend it unless you are a serious student of Roman archaeology. 

Next up, and a short drive further along the coast, was the medieval town of Trogir.  Unlike Salona, in my opinion, it was a gem.  It is situated on a small island and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.  The justification for the designation is (from the WHS web page):

Trogir is considered an excellent example of a medieval town built on and conforming with the layout of a Hellenistic and Roman city that has conserved its urban fabric to an exceptional degree and with the minimum of modern interventions, in which the trajectory of social and cultural development is clearly visible in every aspect of the townscape.

It was a major port until the Roman period when Salona’s prosperity caused Trogir’s importance to decline.  The village has narrow medieval streets and alleyways with cobble-stoned streets and a lovely cathedral.  The seafront is charming with a wide promenade filled with cafes and market stalls.  

While we were in Trogir, our guide told us the legend of Kairos, a Greek god represented as a flying creature always in a hurry.  According to ancient Greek's comprehension of this god of the "fleeting moment", Kairos presents a someone with favorable opportunity.  This favorable moment must be grasped (i. e. the winged, permanent running Kairos by his tuft of hair), otherwise the moment flies away without return and cannot be caught any more.  Basically, I guess, it is the philosophy of carpe diem or seize the day but represented as a Greek god instead.

So, the bottom line was that I could easily skipped the Roman ruins of Salona but I would highly recommend the side trip from Split to Trogir.  It is delightful - and the ice cream there was delicious!

The Renaissance City of Urbino

The first port of the cruise after we left Venice was Ascona, in order to visit Urbino.  It was necessary to take a 1 ½ hour coach trip into the hills.  Given our 7:30 start and the fact that I had visited this UNESCO World Heritage site before, I was beginning to doubt my decision to go on this excursion almost before we started.

For background, Ancona is situated on the west coast of the Adriatic Sea in the Marche region of central Italy.  It is the capital of the region with the same name.  Not only is it one of the main ports on the Adriatic but it is also the main economic and demographic centre of the region.  Its population is about 104,000.  The area was first settled by Greeks from Syracuse in 387 BC but fell into Roman occupation around 178 BC.  The last century has seen Ancona suffer greatly from two World Wars.

For us, Ancona was the gateway to the charming walled Renaissance city of Urbino.  Not only is it known for the Renaissance but it is also the birthplace of the artist, Raphael.  The town is nestled on a high sloping hillside and it retains much of its picturesque medieval character.  It hosts the University of Urbino which was founded in 1506 and it is also the seat of the Archbishop of Urbino. 

Our first stop, after climbing the rather steep hill from the bus parking lot, was the Palazzo Ducale of Urbino, one of the finest examples of the architectural styles of the Renaissance period.  It was built by Federico de Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino from 1444 to 1482.  It houses a comprehensive library as well as wonderful paintings my masters including Piero della Francesco, Raphael and Titian.  Unfortunately, most of the treasures from this palace have been moved to the Vatican in Rome and many others are in Florence.  

The significance of this painting is that it is considered one of
the earliest Renaissance paintings to use "perspective"

Raphael's Portrait of  Lady

Urbino also has a lovely Duomo (currently being restored) the façade of which was built in 1789. 

Our next stop was the house which was the birthplace of Raphael.  It is where he lived until he was 14.  It is still decorated with furniture from the Renaissance period.  Personally, I found it a bit underwhelming and so, apparently, did others in my group.  When the guide asked us if we wanted to see the upstairs or not, the resounding response was no!  

After that we were given some free time to explore.  I went to the main square (Piazza della Repubblica) and had lunch.  It consisted of the local specialty, cresia which is a sort of cross between a panini and a quesadilla.  It is a flatbread baked with cheese on it, filled with various stuffings and folded over.  I had a cresia primavera which had tomatoes and mozzarella cheese.  It was tasty and only €7.  I also ordered a glass of a local Urbino white wine which was only €2.50, a far cry from the €7 or 8 (or much more) which I had been paying for a glass of wine in Venice.

Following our free time, we walked back to the bus – which, interestingly, was parked at the bottom of a 7 story shopping centre which had elevators and escalators.  It wasn’t lost on us that it would have been a lot better if we had started our tour here so we could have used modern technology to get us to the top of the steep hill!

Departure from Venice

Note:  It is beyond frustrating when you are trying to write a blog and, in spite of promises of WiFi access, there is such a poor connection that it takes 10 minutes just to open the page!  So, I have had no success for the last few days.  Thankfully, I did draft some for use as soon as I got online.  It seems today the WiFi is a bit better so I will do what I can to post a couple of blogs.

We boarded the ship on September 19^th but were free to go back into Venice that evening as the ship didn’t actually depart until the following evening.  So, after the lifeboat drill, Pat and Martyn, a couple I had met on the last VTA cruise, and I took the People Mover and a vaporetto back into Venice to the Rialto Bridge.  There, we were meeting my London friends, John and Pedro, for dinner.  It was Martyn’s first visit to Venice and it was a perfect evening.  It is hard to beat the views from the bridge of the Grand Canal at night.  We had a good dinner at Riva del Vin, a restaurant right on the edge of the canal.  My mushroom ravioli with a cheese sauce (probably Asiago) was delicious. 

After dinner we returned to the ship.  While using the People Mover from Piazzale Roma to the port is quick and cheap, I sure wouldn’t recommend it if you have luggage.  It is a long walk from the station to the docks.  However, without luggage it is easy.  I had used the Alilaguna (Blue line) to get to the port from Piazza San Marco and it was a much better solution.

Before detailing what I got up to on the day’s excursion, a little background on Venice would be helpful – although probably most people know about this.  The following is from the cruise handout.

From the 9^th to the 12^th century, Venice developed into a city state (an Italian thalassocracy or Repubblica Marinara:  the other three of these were Genoa, Pisa, and Amalfi).  Its strategic position at the head of the Adriatic made Venetian naval and commercial power almost invulnerable.  With the elimination of pirates along the Dalmation coast, the city became a flourishing trade centre between Western Europe and the rest of the world, especially the Byzantine Empire and Asia.  Venice became an imperial power following the Fourth Crusade which, having veered off course, culminated in 1204 by capturing and sacking Constantinople and establishing the Latin Empire.  Thanks to its position on the Adriatic Sea, Venice always traded extensively with the Byzantine Empire and the Muslim world.  By the late 13^th century, Venice was the most prosperious city in all of Europe.

Now, let’s get back to the present.  The following morning, the first of the excursions included with this cruise took place.  Actually, there were two options:  a walking tour of Venice or a trip to Murano and Burano.  Because I had been in Venice for the previous three days (and there for 12 days in February), I opted for the trip to the islands.  I had never visited Burano and was delighted at the opportunity to do so.

The first stop was Murano where we were deposited at a private pier, owned by a glass factory.  We were given a glass blowing demonstration followed by an opportunity to shop in the factory’s store.  It was too bad that that was about all we saw of Murano; however, as I have been here several times before, it was okay.

Then, it was just a matter to have the 25 minute or so boat ride to Burano.  Not having to use public transport was a treat as the schedules are sometimes quite challenging and the ride to Burano from Venice has several stops so it takes a while.  Of course, we went directly from the port to Murano then from there to Burano.  We were given about 1 ½ hours to wander around the village.  While Murano is famous for its glass making traditions, Burano is famous for lace, biscuits and its colourful buildings.  The brightly painted houses here give the small fishing village a cheerful character.  What surprised me is that I found much nicer Murano glass products on Burano so the local economy was somewhat stimulated by my purchases.  I did inquire about a tablecloth (not lace) that I spotted in a window that would have looked nice in my sunroom.  However, I should have clued in when the gal took my upstairs and started talking about how the tablecloth was hand-stitched and embroidered that it was out of my price range – and it was!  I thought €600 for a tablecloth was more than a bit much!

We were back at the ship by mid-afternoon which provided the chance for a rest before starting the evening festivities.  On this cruise are two couples whom I met on my last VTA cruise.  We all met for drinks at the Lido Bar as the ship set sail out of Venice.  We were so lucky as there was an amazing sunset so the views of Venice were simply stunning.  It was one of those magical moments that you know you are never going to forget as long as you live!

Overnight, we sailed to Ascona which is down the coast from Venice.  Our excursion there will be to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Urbino, the birthplace of Raphael.