101 (minus 4) Dalmatians

Day 22 (Wednesday) and Day 23 (Thursday)

As the weather is getting cooler now (some days it struggles to get above 30 degrees) we have run out of excuses not to go walking.  After breakfast we headed out of town to St Antony’s Steps.  We climbed all 97 of the steps to the top then spent a pleasant hour or so reading and enjoying the view.  The sound of the cicadas was quite deafening and on our way back down the steps we nearly stood on one.  He started to follow us home and we considered keeping him as a pet and calling him ‘Neil’.

In the evening after dinner we went for another walk around the town and listened to some Dalmatian harmony singers.  By Dalmatian I am of course referring to the area and not the spotty dogs.

The supermarkets here tend not to sell fresh meat so we had to sharpen up our Croatian and go to a butchers.  When it came to our turn Tracey said 'minced beef please' in perfect English. Thankfully, the butcher understood and asked how much.  when we said 250 grams he looked very surprised and we were worried that he would either give us a teaspoon full or half a cow.  Anyway, he then turned round, hacked a piece off the carcass hanging on the wall and shoved it through a mince, job done.

In the evening we went for a walk around the harbour and saw a nice yacht called the Eclipse.  Details here: http://www.superyachttimes.com/yachts/details/1044/

It had very powerful lights fitted underneath the hull that lit up the sea, turning it into a kind of aquarium.  We noticed a rather large fish swimming about and it started to draw a small crowd.  Word must have got out because a group of young lads suddenly turned up with a harpoon gun!  At the sight of this the people on board shouted “turn off the lights!”.  Despite the desperate pleas of the young lads they wouldn’t turn them back on again.  I’m not sure if the people on board were worried about the fish or the hull of their yacht being harpooned.

looking up St Antony's Steps

looking down St Antony's Steps

 a photo for Sheila

Exploring MarcoPoloville

Day 21 (Tuesday)

After breakfast it was time to explore our new surroundings.  Our room is situated just outside the old part of Korcula Town.  Korcula Town sits on a tear drop shaped mound and is a well ordered grid of grey stone houses.  It is entered through the Land Gate which is located at the top of a 19^th century flight of stairs.  You can walk through the narrow spine of the town and branch off left or right at any point to get to the sea.

The town could be renamed MarcoPoloville.  You can buy a Marco Polo hat, visit Marco Polo’s house, eat a Marco Polo pizza and wash it down with a Marco Polo cocktail.  You can even sit on Marco Polo’s chair where he once sat and looked out to sea.  I’d be surprised if this was genuine as it’s self-assembly and looks like it was purchased at Ikea.

In the evening, after a bite to eat we went to a café to sit and listen to a couple of singers.  Their singing wasn’t the best but the chap was a great guitarist.

The Land Gate

Korcula Town

View from the Bell Tower of St Marks Cathedral

Video clip of the singers.  Great Guitarist, fast forward through the first 60 seconds!  Sorry about the poor quality of my camera phone.

From 'Hvar to Korcula' with Love

Day 20 (Bank Holiday Monday)

After we packed and were ready to leave we went to say goodbye to Bolto and Mrs Bolto but they weren’t about so we left them a bottle of wine as a thank you for looking after us (well what else do you get a couple who have their own vineyard).

We walked to the bus station to do battle with the Croatian bus network once again.   When the bus arrived it was already full, as it was a little cooler today the world and his wife had decided to take a day trip to Hvar Town.  It was standing room only from Stari Grad to Hvar Town.  The catamaran to Korcula didn’t leave until 6pm so we had a very late and very long lunch to pass the time.

The accommodation in Korcula had been booked through airbnb again and we had arrangements to meet a blonde Russian woman at the harbour called Tatiana who would take us to our room.  When we disembarked from the catamaran I scanned the harbour side and I soon spotted her.  I sidled up to her and said, “Hi, my name’s Whitfield, Mark Whitfield”.  Tatiana replied, “Ah, Mr Whitfield, I’ve been expecting you. Kom viv me for your accomodations”.  I duly followed her through the lanes of Korcula Town and realised after a couple of minutes that I was not James Bond and I’d left Tracey struggling back at the harbour with our cases.

Well, airbnb have come up trumps this time (thanks Craig).  The room is immaculate and all the fixtures and fittings are of a very high quality (they must have some money these Russians).  Tatiana lives in Korcula for 3 months of the year but mainly lives in St Petersburg.

I have to pause here to apologise to my dear friend Cris, ‘Sorry Cris, I didn’t know she was Russian until after I’d booked and paid for the room’.

Tatiana said she would now go and get the ‘secret communications password’ for us.  Great I thought, maybe I am James Bond.  When she returned I realised she was only talking about the passphrase for the wifi.

We went for a quick walk around Korcula Town (the supposed birthplace of Marco Polo) but it was already dark so we couldn’t see much.  Anyway, I have to go now as I need to sweep the rooms for bugs, report to M, contact Felix and meet Q for my consignment of gadgets.  Well, you only live twice you know!

a salad in Hvar Town

 catamaran to Korcula

Our room (sorry, no pants)

Fireworks, fish and fuzzy chops

Day 18 (Saturday) – continued…

Just before we settled down to our evening meal of chicken stew Mrs Bolto knocked on the door with a plate of battered fish that she had just cooked.  This made a perfect starter for us.

We were further entertained by a parade down in the harbour followed by a firework display to celebrate the annual swimming marathon.

Day 19 (Sunday)

Went to the beach in the afternoon and about 4pm the weather suddenly changed.  Some people had left their lilos unattended so those of us left on the beach spent our time running after them and securing them as best we could.  The Croatians seemed a bit concerned about the weather but to us it was like a hot, windy day on Boscombe beach.

We’re leaving Hvar island tomorrow on the catamaran to go to Korcula island for 5 nights then on to Dubrovnik.  This puts us about a week behind our original schedule but as we don’t really have a schedule…

thought I'd have a go at growing a beard

all going swimmingly

Day 17 (Friday)

Got up late today to spend another day on the beach.  When we got back Bolto welcomed us with a chilled glass of white wine (you don’t get that service in a 5 star hotel!).  He explained that he has his own little vineyard back home in Zagreb along with various fruit trees.  We told him that we enjoyed the fish and he started off to get another batch before we managed to convince him that we really didn’t need any more.  He had a glass of wine with us but he knocked it back quickly because he had things to do and people to see.

Day 18 (Saturday)

Yes, you’ve guessed it – another day on the beach.  It was preceded by a morning at the harbour watching the Stari Grad swimming marathon.  Open water swimmers from all over the world were racing over 16 km around the bay.  They started at 8am and finished about 4 hours later.  A German chap won the race and he didn’t even look out of breath.

German chap 1 just beats German chap 2

a wreath for the winner

the winner

Hvar got views for you

Day 16 (Thursday)

Today we decided to go on a day trip to Hvar Town, the capital of Hvar island.  This would be a sort of rehearsal for Monday when we leave Hvar Town port for the island of Korcula.

The Croatian bus system is still a bit of a mystery to us.  We boarded the bus at Stari Grad and managed to get a seat and assumed it would take us directly to Hvar Town.  However, Croatian bus drivers seem to work on the principle of 130% occupancy so we stopped at Stari Grad port to see how many more we could shoehorn in.

Hvar Town is another Croatian town full of medieval alleys overlooked by ancient stone houses.  Unfortunately it really was just too hot to do a great deal of exploring so we soaked up the atmosphere around the harbour.  Tracey is still having trouble with the currency and nearly bought a bracelet which she thought was £18 but it turned out to be £180.  Apparently it was very nice though.

The return bus journey was much quieter so to spice things up a bit the driver made us all get off at Stari Grad port and get onto another bus for no apparent reason.

Views of Hvar.........

Hvar Town citadel (or Spanjola)

Hvar Town

 Hvar Town

 Hvar Town harbour

 Hvar Town Square

 Hvar Town port

There's something fishy going on

Day 14 (Tuesday – continued)

…Tracey ran into the bathroom to get dressed and I hastily put on my shorts and opened the door where I found Mrs Bolto holding a bag of fish!

It would appear that what Bolto was trying to tell us was that his wife would bring us some fish and show us how to cook it.  Mrs Bolto entered the apartment and proceeded to give me instructions.  Now, I’m not very good at receiving cooking instructions in English but in Croatian I’m completely hopeless.  Mrs Bolto then disappeared and returned with flour and oil by which time Tracey had reappeared and was able to receive further instructions on how to prepare and cook the 10 sardines and 2 other larger fish (not yet identified but which require gutting).

We are looking forward to tomorrow’s supper with some trepidation.  Thankfully, the rest of the night remained quiet and we did receive an early morning call to go fishing.

Day 15 (Wednesday)

The day began with a trip to the market for some salad to go with the fish and we spent the rest of the day on the beach psyching ourselves up for the evening’s entertainment.

The fish were gutted, prepared and cooked and they tasted lovely.  Please see before and after photos below.

The fish (before cooking)

The fish (after cooking)

Stari Grad

Stari Grad

 A Stari Grad alley way

 Another Stari Grad alley way

Stari Grad harbour

Stari Grad