Masked Crusaders in Europe

On This.

We were both up by 7.00am & were on the road by 8. We arrived at Sobra port 20 minutes later & at 9.00am we departed back to the Peljesac Peninsular. By 9.45am, we were pulling into the car park at Ston. We tried to buy a ticket for the car park, but the machine didn’t like our credit card. I then checked the other cars in the car park & saw that none were displaying tickets. We concluded the ticket machine was bust & we could park for free. Wrong!

Ston is by and large known for three things – its very well preserved town walls, its salt works, and its mussels! We had done the mussels, seen the salt works, now it was the town walls.

The walls are much longer than those of its more famous neighbour, Dubrovnik, at 5km in length. This makes them the longest defensive structure in Europe; they are sometimes referred to as the ‘European Walls of China”. Built in the 14th and 15th centuries as a additional defence for the Republic of Ragusa (Dubrovnik) and to protect the lucrative salt pans in the area, the walls also consist of three fortresses – Veliki Kastil (in Ston), Korula (Mali Ston) and Prodzvizd Fort – and a number of towers.

With water & sensible footwear, we set off for the entrance to the walls. We paid our 70 kuna each & ascended the wall. We arrived at a tower on a peak of the wall absolutely dripping in sweat. It afforded great views of the town below & the salt works.

We marched back down the wall where near the exit, we were informed we could follow the wall up over the mountain to a village just over a kilometre away. Jackie refused, but I decided to go for it. If nothing else, it would hopefully give me an even better view. I started the climb, but it was steep & very narrow. I got to the 1st tower & ‘bottled it’.

I returned to Jackie & instead we went to the fortress, Veliki Kastil, which was included in our ticket. It was just an empty fortress with a couple of cannons.

It was now only 11am, but we decided to return to Konoba Dardin for an early lunch. Jackie had an octopus salad & I, a plate of Dalmatian Poscuitto ham with a beer each. It was very pleasant.

We then returned to the car to find a parking ticket on our windscreen for 90 kuna (about £11). We hunted for the ticket attendant to argue the toss, but he was nowhere to be found. I also noticed that we were the only car with a parking ticket & no one was displaying any proof of payment. “Is it only because we are British?” We will either email them a complaint or just ignore it & not pay, probably the latter.

We then drove the length of the Peljesac Peninsular, back to Orebić & 20 minutes after arriving we were on the ferry to the Island of Korcula. I had planned to catch a ferry in 4 days time from Korcula to Split. We enquired at the ticket office & learnt that the only ferry for this departed from the other end of the island at 6.00am & 6.00pm. We need to have a rethink!

We drove down into Ston old town & decided we would cycle over on another day. We then drove to Lumbarda & located our accommodation for the next 4 nights Stone House Gregov. We were met by the owners , Ivo & Vanja. Ivo was ultra enthusiastic. He helped us with all our bags, then showed us around. It is a strange set up with 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, but a shared kitchen, living room & balcony. We are the only ones staying so we had the choice of rooms.

Ivo insisted that we sit down & have a drink of his wife’s homemade limoncello & another stronger liquor. Then Ivo started telling us about himself - he fought in the Balkan war, was stationed in Zagreb, but didn’t kill anyone. He loves everyone. He gave up alcohol on his 1st day of the war to keep a clear head & hasn’t touched it since. He did however smoke 60 cigarettes a day, but has since given up. He eats mainly fruit & vegetables & only small fish. To be fair, he does look fit for his 77 years.

It then started to get a bit weird, he told us we were his family, his kids. He told that he was a positive person, grateful for life & he didn’t care about money or computers. During this conversation, we agreed to buy a bottle of lemoncello, the other liquor, plus a bottle of homemade red & white wine. We also agreed to rent his motorboat for a day. A good salesman for someone who doesn’t care about money!

He then helped me take the bikes off the car & park it up down the road. It was during this process that I discovered that I had a flat tyre on my bike, which must be sabotage, because it was fine when I last used it. He also told me the best restaurant to go to.

Ivo returned to the apartment with me & continued to wax lyrical. It felt like a sermon & after every sentence, he would say, “You understand?” Giving you no real option other than to say “Yes”. He kept referring to what a wonderful stress free life he had & no need for money, which clearly meant he was obsessed with the stuff.

He also talked about all his other guests who were repeat customers & loved him. He showed us trees at the front of the property that allegedly cured a sick woman who sat under it for a week. Really!

When he finally left us we were knackered. He didn’t ask us anything about ourselves other than we were English & he told us it rains a lot in the UK & it has a lot of crime, unlike Korcula.

We compared him to some type of Evangelist or Cult Leader. Jackie likened him to Jim Jones, which prompted us to watch a documentary about the 1978 Jonestown Murder-suicide massacre. Jones ordered and likely coerced a mass suicide and mass murder of 918 commune members, 304 of them children, almost all by cyanide-poisoned Flavor Aid. What was in the lemoncello?

Funnily enough, neither of us felt hungry and I had a stomach ache, but we decided to go to the restaurant Ivo had recommended. At Kinobo Marco Polo we shared a pizza & a coleslaw salad, which was nice, but we could only eat just over half of it.

Before the pizza arrived the waitress came out with 4 piping hot complimentary doughnuts & a plate of tuna pate. That famous phrase uttered by Johnny Craddock sprang to mind!

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