Split-Berlin

  Day 15: Split - Berlin

In the morning we left early for the airport bus to Split Airport. The Bus departs from the central bus station opposite the pier, which was just a five-minute walk from our apartment. We immediately found the terminal for the airport bus. It is well marked, and the bus leaves many times a day. We actually could get into the bus directly - when we asked the bus driver if we had to buy a ticket at the ticket office, he told us we can buy the ticket on the bus. After around half an hour bus drive we arrived at the airport on our affordable flight back to Berlin with Easyjet and were much too early. So we had a little time to stroll around the airport, which wasn't too big, and had some coffee and a meal before it was time to say goodbye to Croatia.

 

 

Korcula, Kòrkyra Melaèna, Corcyra Nigra

Day 12: Korčula - Lumbarda

On our third day in Korčula, we opted for a visit in Lumbarda, a village which is just a few kilometres away. It is easily accessible by bus from Korčula, and they have a timetable for the many buses going there at the bus station, which was just five minutes away from our "Apartment Neno". We took an early bus at 8 a.m., which we nearly missed, and got the ticket at the office at the bus station just before leaving.

In Lumbarda, there wasn't anything particular to do or visit, so we just walked along the shore, where we came to a small sandy beach, which seemed to be part of a beach club. You can walk all around the little village at the coast. When we did so, we came out to another swimming area, which didn't look too inviting though, with a wall behind it and mostly stones - but it seems to be great for Yogis.

They have a lot of grapes and olive trees in Lumbarda, and it all seemed to be a tranquil village, where you can relax and enjoy food and drinks. We were more in a sightseeing mode and went inside the town, where we found a church and then a way back to the shore. After having some coffee near the bus station, we took a bus back to Korčula.

When we were back in Korčula, we were actually just tired and skipped our initial plan to take a boat to Badija, where a Monastery and some beaches are located. We just slept for some time. The early starts of our tours apparently took their toll. It was only later in the day that we went to the beach nearby the apartment in Korčula and the refreshment there was just what we needed. Another thing that we needed was tickets for the ferry to Split, leaving the next morning. So we went to the ticket office at the ferry pier, where those tickets are sold between 7 and 8 p.m. We were a bit earlier there, but so were the others building a long line already with the now usual queue jumping people. We got our tickets though for 65 Kuna per Person (about 9 Euro) and then could relax in another magnificent sunset in Korčula. There's only one ferry from Korčula to Split daily and a lot of people in the high season who want to take it, so there's the possibility to not get a ticket and be stuck - if you are late.

We still did visit a grocery store for our dinner and bought the tickets for the "Moreška Sword Dance", they present at the entrance to the old town on Mondays and Thursdays at 9 p.m. After eating something at the apartment, we went back to the old town for the sword dance, and it was quite impressive. The show took close to an hour and started with local singers performed before the sword dance began. I had never seen something like that before, and it was indeed a pleasant surprise.

Korcula, Orebic

Day 11: Korčula

We took an early ferry at 8 a.m. from Korčula to Orebić on the Pelješac peninsula for a day trip. There are many ferries between both towns and they just need about 15 minutes to cross the sea. We hadn´t heard of particular points of interest in Orebić apart from the beaches. But we had seen a church, located high up on the mountain, overlooking the sea and wanted to go there. There weren't many people yet, and we had a lovely passage.

We needed a map of the area when we arrived there and also to find the way to the church way up on the hill, and we got one at the tourist information office. We started our tour with a visit to the small but beautiful Maritime Museum, which showed paintings, miniature models of ships and a lot of old documents and information on the history of Orebić.

We couldn´t wait to swim and decided to go to the beach first before hiking to the church, which was a Franciscan Monastery. When we walked along the shore, there were many places to swim, but Orebić also has a bit of a sandy beach. When we arrived there, it looked nice, but there were already a lot of people, so we went further until there were pebbles instead of sand and a lot fewer people. The water was splendid, like everywhere else in Croatia. 

The heat was burning when we started to go from the beach towards the Franciscan Monastery. After a short stop at another church and buying some bottles of soda we came to a hotel after some time, from where a  road leads up to the Monastery (there´s also a sign). After a short time, there came a diversion with a small, rocky path and we opted for that instead of the road. It was a nice walk through the woods, getting slowly higher until the trail ended and we came out on the road again, just below the Monastery. The view from up there was great - with Korčula, many little islands and the sea. 

The Monastery itself was closed unfortunately (opens at 3:00 p.m. only and we got there around 11:00 a.m.) so we just got a look at it from outside. Then we looked at some curiosities at the cemetery next to it before we went downwards, this time on the road. After having a snack nearby the ferry pier we took one of the small boats back to Korčula, which offer their services in addition to the bigger ferry.

Back in Korčula, we had seen an interesting looking church on our city map. It looked like it has a massive stairway up to the hill. We haven't seen the southern part of Korčula yet, so we gave it a try. There were signs for the "Sveti Antun", and with our map, we came close, but at one crossing, the indication wasn't clear to us which way to go, and we took the road on the right and eventually landed in the middle of nowhere. Apparently, we took the wrong one. Just when we wanted to go back, two people came out of the thicket near the bus stop. I've noticed a small hiking path that seems like not being used for a very long time. The trail was overgrown with bushes and vines, and we were quite sceptical, but we braved it anyway. There was a marking, identifying the path like some hiking trail, leading upwards. Finally, a stonewall and markings were leading to cleared footpath over the wall so we climbed it and voila, there was the church.

The church "Sv. Antun" on the hill was a pleasure to see, especially after all the walking and not knowing if the path leads to it. And after taking some time there, we walked down on the stairway, which is not exactly like "Bom Jesus do Monte in Portugal", but still impressive.

We felt, we had earned another swim, and when we were back in Korčula, we went to a beach nearby the apartment and took another plunge in the crystal and fresh water before going "home" for dinner.