Croatia - Day 7, Jadrolinija Ferry

In the morning the anticipated improvement in the weather did not materialise and we were greeted again with the lump of cloud sticking to the mountain over the Pelješac canal like a giant pancake whilst all around there was blue sky. The cloud cast a giant shadow over the town of Korčula and that was a shame because we had hoped to see the red tiled roofs under blue skies and sunshine but it seemed that it was not to be. The plan today was to spend the morning on the island and then take a lunchtime ferry back to the peninsular and then make our way back to Split.

With the weather prospects looking poor we agreed to change the plan and take the early morning ferry instead so after breakfast we packed in a rush and left quickly to be sure of catching the ten o’clock boat. As we left the Grgic I noticed that there was still no sign of the sign! At the harbour I bought the tickets and then noticed something unusual. The man in the ticket office charged me for a car and two passengers but only issued foot passenger tickets and I remembered exactly the same had happened on the way across. There was no trouble getting on the ferry and the man collecting the ticket only gave me back one ticket stub. I think that this may have been a scam and I thought about writing to Jadrolinija when I got home but I never quite got round to it back in the United Kingdom where it suddenly seemed less important.

The ferry left dead on time and as we watched Korčula slip away a huge cruise ship pulled up off shore and it was so big it seemed to dwarf the little town and we wondered just how it was going to accommodate two thousand cruisers who would shortly be going ashore. The amazing thing was that as soon as we left the harbour the sun came out and by the time we reached Orebić on the other side there wasn’t a cloud to be seen except for the stubborn pancake clinging to the top of the mountain. With the island fading into the distance I owned up about the cockroach and Kim had a confession of her own because it turned out that she had found and killed one as well and had also kept this to herself.

It was half past ten and we needed to get to the port of Trpanj on the other side of the peninsular to catch the one o’clock ferry back to the mainland so we didn’t stop in Orebić but took the road south before crossing west through the gap in the mountain and across to our destination. We arrived with about forty minutes to spare so parked the car in the ferry queue, bought our tickets and found a nearby bar to sit and wait for the boat. It was very hot now and the sun was shining so we sat outside and joined the local men who were having a lively pre-Sunday lunch drink in the company of friends in the way that men here have probably been doing for years.

The ferry was a bit late and when it arrived I couldn’t believe how small it was. It certainly didn’t look big enough to take all of the vehicles that were waiting to go on board and as we were at the back of the queue I began to start thinking about what we might do for an afternoon in Trpanj while we waited for the next one. One by one the cars and lorries started to drive on and it was filling up fast, finally we reached the front of the queue and as the man came across to say the ferry was full my heart sank, but no, instead he took our tickets and indicated that I should reverse onto the boat which I did with some difficulty. It was a scene of such complete chaos that it made a Greek ferry terminal look organised and if you have been on a Greek ferry you will know that this takes some doing. Well, it didn’t matter we were on so we made our way to the top deck and settled down in the sun for the one hour crossing to the industrial town of Ploce.

On the way there were good views of the Dalmatian coastline with grey mountains rising almost vertically out of the sea and up to one thousand metres high with only a little space between for the towns and villages that punctuate the coastline. It was a relaxing crossing and on the way across I reflected on our visit to the islands and I decided that even though they have superior plumbing arrangements I doubt that they could replace the Greek islands for me. We disembarked at Ploce and with the sun blazing down we anticipated a leisurely drive with frequent stops for sun and siteseeing.

Croatia - Day 5, Korčula

Booking a ticket for the six-kilometre crossing to Korčula was very straightforward and didn’t involve the same administrative arrangements of providing passenger names that there are in Greece. I suppose that because Croatia isn’t in the European Union yet then it can safely manage without some of its bureaucratic procedures. The ferryboat was part of the Jadrolinija fleet, which is the largest in Croatia and carries nearly ten million passengers a year. It was called the Sveti Krševan, which is the name of the beautiful Romanesque church in Zadar that we had visited last year.

Once on board we found a seat on the top deck, opened a can of Karlovačko and sat in the sunshine to enjoy the thirty minute crossing to the island. The Croatian archipelago is the second largest in the Mediterranean after the Greek and there are that there are approximately one thousand two hundred and fifty Croatian islands in the Adriatic stretching all the way down the coast from Istria to Dubrovnik. This compares to about one thousand four hundred Greek Islands but includes quite a lot of islets and reefs so although this sounds a lot only sixty-six are actually inhabited compared with almost four times as many, two hundred and twenty seven, in Greece. Last year we visited Hvar, this year we choose Korčula just lying to the south of the slightly bigger island.

The ferry docked efficiently just outside the medieval city and we drove the short distance to the old town and after a bit of parking confusion found a perfect spot just outside the harbour and we set off to explore. Immediately it was obvious that Korčula isn’t very big and so because we had all day there pencilled in for tomorrow we decided not to do too much of it today. We walked around the outside of the town and restricted ourselves to the main street that runs through the middle and then found a pizzeria with a table overlooking the sea and the Pelješac peninsular. We choose a speciality pizza and the waiter asked if we wanted it cutting into six or eight slices, we said six because we didn’t think we could manage all eight.

It was a pleasant little lunch but as we sat there the sky hazed over and although it was still bright and warm the new arrangements robbed us of the blue that we like best. On the way out of the old town we visited the Konzum mini-market, which is the largest supermarket chain in Croatia, and purchased breakfast items for tomorrow and alcohol supplies for later on.

Our accommodation was just a few kilometres out of the town in the village of Grgic and the driving instructions were perfect until we reached the final few metres where the instructions petered out into an unhelpful ‘take the turning up the steep slope to the apartments’ – not very helpful because every turning had a steep slope so it looked as though we might have to try them all until we struck lucky As it happened there was a village shop where we stopped for directions and when we arrived the owner was waiting to greet us. We told her that a sign would be useful and she said that one was being fitted that very afternoon.

On the website the accommodation looked quite special but it didn’t quite live up to its billing. It isn’t very often that we are disappointed but this was one of them. The place wasn’t finished and it appeared dull and in need of a freshen up. The room was pleasant enough with a large balcony and a good view but inside the furniture was desperately out of date, the bed linen was old and faded and the towels were threadbare and worn out. Worst of all as we had the guided tour I spotted a cockroach in the kitchen area so I quickly stepped on it and hoped that Kim didn’t hear the crunch as its disgusting shell split in two and killed it instantly. I scooped the remains up in a tissue and flushed it down the toilet.

It wasn’t all bad of course and on the positive side it was in a very good location and the views from the pool side terrace area were magnificent. We sat and chatted to other guests and were served some home made liquors and pastries. These other guests were just finishing a fortnight holiday here and I found it almost impossible to comprehend how people could spend so long in one place. They seemed fascinated by our do-it-yourself approach to travel and spoke to us as though we were great adventurers so we felt obliged to tell them just how simple it is – book the flights, find some cheap hotels, hire a car and off you go!

The sun stayed behind the high haze for the rest of the day so eventually we abandoned the pool and retreated inside to prepare to go out for evening meal. Later we drove out and as we left the driveway to the apartments we couldn’t help but notice that the sign at the bottom had failed to appear. It was a lovely warm night and Korčula was delightful in the evening, the white stones and pavements were almost luminous and there was a friendly relaxed ambiance around every street corner. After we had walked around for a little while we selected a Croatian/Italian style restaurant and in the shelter of a side street sat we each had a pasta meal and shared a jug of wine and after that we wandered through the quiet streets back to the car and returned to the apartment.