Korcula & Mljet

June 23, 2009

We actually wound up spending 3 nights on Korcula rather than our planned 2. One of the reasons for our rough crossing earlier was that a low was moving into the area. This resulted in rain Saturday night, all day Sunday & intermittently on Monday. Aside from discovering that 3 of the 4 cabins on our boat had leaky hatches directly above each bed, we managed fine, necessity providing innovative solutions when pressed. Being too wet to go out, meals were eaten on the boat, Yvonne and others doing a fantastic job in the galley.
Early Tuesday morning, we left Lombarda on Korcula, bound for Mljet. Arriving about noon, we entered the harbor at Polace, a community dating back 2 millennia. As a matter of fact, our berth at the marina was within 50 feet of a 3 story masonry ruin of the roman palace at Polace, about 1500 years old. ‘Really cool. It seems that the local populace, Illyrians, found it fun and profitable to loot, sack and sink unsuspecting but well provisioned Roman Galleys in the early centuries of the 1st Millenia. Predictably, this did not sit well with Roman authorities. They dealt with it in the expected manner. These formerly fierce pirates retreated inland, becoming farmers & goat herders. ‘Classic career redirection.
The afternoon was spent exploring the National park on the west end of the island, including a 12th Century Benedictine Monastery, situated on an island on a saltwater lake named Velico Jezero.

PS: Joseph, from Toto, is a favorite to make the Croatia 2010 Winter Olympics team. ‘His specialty being the downhill Giant Slalom. He’s currently ranked #2 in Croatia.