Day 40 - Exploring Korcula

Another leisurely start to the day. Around 10am we found Ivo who was worried about Sergei because no-one had seen him. There was no need to worry he had sneaked out for a double espresso in town.

Not long after Jackie & I set off for our 5 km cycle ride to Korcula. Well we would have done, but I had a flat tyre again. Brilliant. Luckily, Ivo lent me his bike & we set off cycling mainly uphill. We parked our bikes near a really fancy cemetery, then we walked down to Korcula passing the Tommy Hipermarket, then down an atmospheric cobbled walkway.

Korcula (pronounced Cor-chew-la) is incredibly attractive, almost unreal like a film set. The Old Town is a medieval walled city positioned on an oval-shaped swelling of land pointing deep into the Peljesac Channel. The city itself is grooved with a succession of narrow streets that branch off the spine of the main street like a fish bone to reduce the effects of wind & sun. The architecture of the Old Town is mainly influenced by Venetian Renaissance.

We wandered around marvelling at its beauty. The town was like a museum with random artefacts littered around. It is also the home of Marco Polo, allegedly!There is a Marco Polo House which claims to be where Marco Polo was born, although most historians say he was born in Venice. Either way, he obviously had some connection with Korcula & did sleep in that house at sometime.

On top of the city walls were dozens of restaurants, we decided to have an early lunch. Jackie chose the lunch venue, Silk, a Thai restaurant.....When in Rome. It was expensive, but we craved something a bit different. We had a pad Thai & pork Gyozas looking out to sea with just a small beer. A nice change.

We then climbed back up to our bikes & cycled off our lunch. We arrived back at Stone House Gregov for an afternoon of sun on the jetty. Sergei was also on the jetty ferociously downing glass after glass of wine. He did make us laugh & we learnt a lot more about him. For example he is 100% Russian, but because he grew up in the Crimea, he also has a Ukrainian passport to aid travel. He spent a term at Brighton Uni in the early 90s & he has light aircraft pilots license.

Every so often, Ivo would pop down with some snacks. He brought down a large plate of homemade cakes & carob liqueur. I think the main reason he kept coming down was to check on Sergei who was getting quite drunk.

When the sun went down, we adjourned to the balcony for an evening of cheese and ham toasties followed by ice cream, whilst watching premiership football & trying to make head or tail of how we could best get home. During the evening, Sergei staggered off to Konoba Skafetin that we had recommended & staggered back about 90 minutes later absolutely hammered. Ivo came down to check on him & despaired at his drunkenness.

Sergei went off to his room or so we thought to sleep, but suddenly there was a splash in the sea, caused by Sergei diving in. He got straight out & went to his room. Next thing we knew was that Ivo out on the jetty searching the sea with a torch. We ended his fruitless search for Sergei, who could end up being the death of him.

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