Croatia: Istrian Peninsula and Korcula Island

It was an easy drive from Trieste to Venice and we dropped the car off in Piazzale Roma , got on the #2 vaporetto and rode three stops to the Boat Terminal at San Basilio. We parked our bags in the luggage hold (4€ each) and had a relaxing walk into the Dorsoduro Siestre, along the canals and over to the Accademia Bridge. We’ve stayed in this area a few times and we always heard about the gondola repair shop somewhere near the Grand Canal. We’ve tried to find it a few times in the past, this time we walked right by it on our way into the Dorsoduro. Everything comes if you wait long enough.

It was an easy 2.5 hr. cruise across the Adriatic Sea to Porec (pronounced Porridge) on the northern part of the Istrian Penninsula. Between April and November, this town gets over 700,000 visitors per year. The vendors are happy and aggressive. You can’t walk by a restaurant or small shop without them trying to snare you in for a sale or a meal. Everyone offers the best price and all the prices are the same.

Porec town still lives with the old Roman street grid, the Decumanus going East to West and the Cardo going North to South. If you can take your eyes out of the shop windows there are some really well preserved 13th and 14th century Venetian style Romanesque houses. The streets are covered in large Croatian marble stone and both are crowded with jewelry, sunglasses, beachwear, handmade trinkets, art, fashion clothing, gelaterie and restaurants. We had a good meal at the Restaurant Cardo one block north of the main intersection of the two roads.

The big draw here, aside from the beautiful view of the Adriatic, is the Basilica of Euphrasius, named for the 6th century Bishop who created this Christian complex for the Emperor Justinian. Inside the Bishop’s complex are some great views from the Campanile and the 4th century mosaics in the Bishop’s Palace, including the famous toothed fish. I know the fish is an early sign of Christianity but I have no idea why this one has teeth? It’s almost as if the these Christians were in a gang of toughies and their fish symbol had teeth, so beware. The toothed fish was so popular its been adopted as the symbol of the city.

The 6th century mosaics from the Cathedral are definitely one of the best examples of Byzantine art we’ve seen, right up there with the mosaics of Ravenna.

As the story goes, Euphrasius was so egotistical with his redesign of the Cathedral, he included a portrait of him in the Apse holding an image of his Basilica while standing in the same line as the Saints and the Virgin mother, an effrontery so blasphemous to the Pope, he was, supposedly, excommunication from the Church. But maybe he was reinstated. His mosaic portrait is still there and he is still revered by the city.

Our hotel is directly in front of the harbor and we can sit on our balcony and watch the boats, and the people, come and go. It’s pretty relaxing for a tourist town filled with thousands of people.

Pula (ancient Pola) was the main Roman city of Istria and our next destination.

The town was supposedly founded by the Colchians who were pursuing Jason and the Argonauts after Jason stole the golden fleece from the land of Colchis (present day Georgia).

Pula is the location of one of the greatest Roman Amphitheaters in existence. As the story goes, Vespasian’s girlfriend Antonia Cenida was from Pula and somehow convinced the emperor to build a 23,000 seat amphitheater for a city of just 5,000. Vespasian was building the Amphitheatre in Rome (the Colosseum) at the same time.

Like all the other amphitheaters, once the gladiatorial games were outlawed by the Christian rule, the dismantling began and a lot of the grand building ended up in nearby houses and buildings.

In the 16th century, the Venetians wanted to ship the entire amphitheater back to the mainland and reassemble it. It didn’t happen. By the 18th century a law went into effect to stop further removal of any more of the original building.

During the Italian fascist rule there were a few more attempt to tear it down and reassemble it somewhere on the mainland of Italy. Once again, didn’t happen.

These days it’s used for concerts and mostly for the annual summer film festival of Pula.

Pula has a few other worthwhile places to visit the old Roman city. The Temple of Augustus is the only great piece left from the Ancient Forum, although a lot of it was rebuilt after the bombing of 1945, it’s still very impressive. It now houses a Lapidarium , which we’ve learned is another word for ancient Roman sculpture and broken chards.

On the other side of the Forum, down a nice winding street is the Arch of the Sergii, the triumphal arch to one Slavia Posthuma Sergii whose family aided Augustus in the 31 AD Battle of Actium, when he defeated Mark Anthony and Cleopatra. The gate was once considered so magnificent it appeared in the sketchbooks of both Michelangelo and 17th century British architect, Inigo Jones. Now it opens up onto the Café Uliks. (Uliks is Croatian for Ulysses). A bronze statue of Joyce sits at one of the café tables. He was paid £2 a week from the Berlitz school near here in 1904 for teaching English to Austro Hungarian naval officers and although the Croatians of Pula might venerate his time there, he actually hated the place, calling it naval Siberia, and left after only 5 months.

Somehow we ended up on a small road out of Pula and after about 10km or so we drove into the town of Vodnjan (Dignano in Italian). Inside the 18th-century Church of St. Blaise (sveti Blaž). are the 'mummies' of centuries-old saints, whose bodies mysteriously failed to decompose, are considered to have magical powers. It’s a mummy bonanza. There are 6 full on laid out mummies and a hundreds of mummified parts of others.

For those looking for the truly famous, there is the torso of the 3rd century St Sebastian, without the arrows in his chest, but complete with the leathered remains of arteries and veins. There is the preserved heel of Santa Barbara, and the preserved tongue of Saint Mary of Egypt, a prostitute who after visiting the grave of Christ, repented her life, using the same tongue to convert so many others.

Then there are the intact mummified bodies looking like a mixture of polished wood and molded leather.

St. Leon Bembo died in 1188 but when he was exhumed a hundred years later he was still in pretty good condition. The same condition he’s in today.

Saint Nicolosa Bursa died in 1512, on April 24th, the day she predicted she would die. When they opened her grave supposedly a pleasant odor came out of the tomb. Making the story even more incredible, supposedly she was left in the open air for 163yrs and still didn’t decompose. Her mummy is considered the best preserved corpse in Europe, and dig this, bioenergy healers have proved that the body of Nicolosa Bursa emits a 32-meter bioenergy circle. It is also said that there have been 50 miraculous healings in the body's close proximity.

St. Ivan John Olini died in 1300 after he cured thousands from a plague. Even after he died people were cured of diseased just from sitting on his grave.

All of these treasures were scooped up by an artist named Gaetano Gresler and stored away in a safe house when Napoleon came into Venice and Croatia. In 1818, he brought them to this little church of St Blaise and they’ve been here ever since.

Going back up north we stopped in at Rovinj (pronounced Roveen). It was a fortress island city built under Venice rule from 1283-1797 but by the time the Habsburgs took it in the 1700’s they connected the island to the mainland for easier access. These days its hard to tell it every was an island. It’s another beautiful small city with winding streets and lots of arts and crafts shops, souvenirs and cafes by the water. It has the look and feel of Venice, Prague and a ton of other small beautiful cities we’re been to along the way. The main square Trg Marsala Tita (named after Marshall Tito) is the spot to watch people and watch the harbor. Its also where most of the thousands for tourists congregate.

After a walk up the very slippery marble steps of the old streets is the Baroque Church of St Euphemia. According to Christian lore, Euphemia (the patron saint of Rovinj) was thrown to the lions in Constantinople in 304 for denouncing the pagan gods of Emperor Diocletian. Fast forward 500 years later to July 13, 800 when the stone sarcophagus of Euphemia mysteriously washed up on Rovinj’s shore and hauled up to the land by a small boy and a team of oxen. Yes, part of the miracle is the stone sarcophagus floated to Croatia from Turkey. Euphemia (and the sarcophagus) are now interred inside the cathedral.

We left Porec and drove inland for a night in Opatija on the eastside of the Istrian Peninsula. Inland Istria is truffle country and in late September thousands of truffle hunters with thousands of truffle hunting dogs invade the woods. In 1999, one Giancarlo Zigante and his dog Diana rooted out a 1.3kg (about 2 ¾ pound) truffle still regarded as the largest in the world. Zigante now calls himself the truffle king with a slew of Zigante Truffle restaurants around the world. We’ve seen truffle dishes on the restaurant menus but it only July. The season doesn’t start for another couple of months.

Opatija was one of the grand resorts of the old Austrian Riviera, founded as a holiday resort by the railroad entrepreneur Friedrich Julius Schuller in 1844. It took off and has been a magnet for tourists ever since. And why not. It’s a perfect location, mountains gently sloping into the sea. The harbor sits in a perfect location, sheltered from the really nasty and cold “bura” winds that freeze the pants off of the rest of the Kvarner Region of the Istrian peninsula.

In the late 19th century, this was the place to see and be seen, especially after Emperor Franz Joseph started to vacation here. By the early 20th century Opatija was hosting the likes of the empress Elisabeth (Sissy) of Austria, Gustav Mahler , Anton Chekov, Isadora Duncan, Sigmund Freud, Giacomo Puccini, James Joyce and lots more. There is still an air of old world resort charm, with lots of old Viennese Recession villas climbing up the hillside from the harbor. In the early 19th century Opatija was on the same level as Nice, Cannes and Biarritz as a health resort spa destination. On the night we arrived we saw many of the townsfolk dressing up in their favorite turn of the century costumes for Kaisernacht celebration, recalling those good old days when Opatija was under the thumb of the Austro Hungarian empire.

The big activity, as it has been for years, is to walk the Lungomare promenade, a 12km seaside stroll that was completed in 1889 as part of the spa and recuperation resort activities. It’s a meandering stroll past Hotels and cafes, restaurants and shops, through flowering parks and alongside sunbathers. There is no actual beach in the town. Some of the seaside lounge areas imported sand to make it seem more beachlike, but there is no local sand. It’s all rock. The seaside promenade has been paved with concrete and graceful steps carry you down into the Adriatic sea. It actually looks like a giant swimming pool with waves.

We had a great night, another upgraded room to a suite, a delicious meal of stuffed grilled calmari and in the morning we were off to Split to catch the Ferry to Korcula Island

We needed to be in Split by 3:30pm to make sure we could get tickets for the car ferry to Vela Luka. We left Opatija at 10:05am. It’s a 420 km drive, about a 4.5 hr drive, 5hrs with a stop along the way.

We took the superhighways all the way. For the first few hours our little Skoda Fabia was blown around the road by the “bura” winds. As we finally left the bura zone, we saw a really bad car accident on the other side of the highway. A car flipped over and by the time we got there all that was left was a scorched out frame. Traffic was backed up for at least 20km. We sighed a breath of relief thanking the spirits that we weren’t traveling the other direction, and within minutes, traffic came to a standstill. About 40 minutes later we were back on our way and made it to the ferry port about 90minutes before we set sail.

It’s a 3hr tour from Split to Vela Luka on the western side of Korcula Island.

Korcula is in Southern Dalmatia, very close to the Peljesac Peninsula, the heart of the Plavic Mali red wine district. They are robust, dark in color and spicy. According to many, Plavic Mali is the ancestor of the American Zinfandel.

Korcula

In one version of the Island origin, when Jason and the Argonauts stopped here on their way back home, the island reminded them so much of their beloved Kerkyra (Corfu) that they named the island Kerkyra Melaine (black Kerkyra). The island eventually became Korcula. By the way, our hotel in Vela Luka is named Hotel Korkyra.

Korcula the (supposed) birthplace of the great adventurer, Marco Polo. He is always regarded as a Venetian, but then, Korcula was part of Venice in 1254, when he was born. The registry of Depolo family in birth records adds to the credibility, although the house on Depolo Street that claims to be his birthplace wasn’t occupied by the Depolo family until the 1400s. Marco Polo died in 1324. The house is more or less an archeological dig. The bones of the house are still there but its more of an ancient ruin than a tourist attraction which is strange because every other building on Depolo Street is totally renovated and squeaky clean, including the Marco Polo Souvenir shops at each end of the two block long street.

Polo is a interesting historical character. The mystery surrounding his birthplace is nothing compared to the mystery of his life. We know he was captured by a Genovese ship during the 1298 naval Battle of Korcula between Venice and Genoa that took place off the coast of Lumbarda, south of Korcula town. He spent a year in a Genovese prison where he met Rusticello da Pisa, the romantic novelist who took Polo’s adventures and romantically embellished them into the medieval adventure saga “Il Millione” also known as “Tales of Marco Polo”. The book does mention the discoveries of eyeglasses, ice cream, coal and paper money which could have come from Polo’s account from his time with Kublai Khan in China, but daPisa was a novelist and couldn’t help himself. The book, by the way, was a best seller in the 14th century. Unfortunately Polo told so many fantastic stories that no one believed him. When he was near death, a priest come to him and asked if he would like to repent his lies and admit he made them all up. Marco Polo supposed last words were, “I did not tell half of what I saw.”

Korcula town is one of those precious 14th century towns filled with marble streets, fortress towers and Venetian gates. There, of course, are lots of craft shops and wonderful (and relaxing) cafes and restaurants. You can actually see the entire town in less than an hour. The “Land Gate” with its Venetian symbol of the winged Lion of St Mark is still the main entrance to the old town. It’s been the main entrance since 1391. Other towers of the fortification walls have literally been cut in half to accommodate the ocean walkway. It’s a bit weird but it all works.

Sitting at the cafes outside the old fortification walls is one of the most relaxing meals you could ever have.

The fortifications (mostly gone these days) did managed to hold off pirates, Arabs, Turks, and others for a while. In 1571, on route to the Battle of Lepanto in western Greece (a major whooping to the Ottoman navy), the Algerian Corsair Uluj Ali Pasha (originally an Italian from Calabria named Giovanni Galenti) took a slight diversion to attack both Hvar and Korcula Town. The Ottoman naval power was too powerful but just as the walls of Korcula started to fall, a mighty wind came out of no-where and wiped out most of the Corsair Fleet and saved Korcula Town. Unfortunately the wind didn’t travel as far as Hvar. Only Korcula was saved. It was truly a divine intervention although we can’t find any reference to any Saint who saved the city. Usually with an event like this, some deacon of the church always gets the credit.

We’re staying in Vela Luka on the other side of the island about 45km up and over the hills. Our Skoda Fabia chugs to get up them, our ears pop when we come down them and the views from the top are unbelievable.

Vela Luka is the big harbor on the island. In fact, the name in Croatian dialect means “Big Harbor”. Actually, its a small relaxed harbor town with fishing boats, a town hall, a church, a post office, a few grocery stores and family style konoba restaurants surrounding the harbor. Its very laid back, a much slower pace than the bustling tourism of Korcula town. We like it just fine.

On Sunday, we watched an old passenger ferry cruise around the harbor carrying a marching band. They started around 11am playing oompah songs as the old boat marched around the harbor. By 7pm the concert cruise was over. It was right out of a 1950’s foreign film.

We seem to be spending a lot of time at the Konoba and Bar/Café Casablanca. We go to the konoba for dinner and for coffee in the morning. We did try the Restaurant Pod Bore at the other end of the harbor one night. I read a review in some book that it was a good place for fish. The meal was so bad we looked to see if there were any reviews on the internet; Tripadvisor, Google, anything. The only review we found was from virtualtourist.com where the reviewer wrote “The food at Pod Bore wasn't much to write home about, but it didn't kill us”. That pretty much says it all. We went back to Casablanca.

Its odd that the most contemporary hotel on the island is over here in Vela Luka. The Hotel Korkyra opened in 2010. We have a beautiful, well appointed room overlooking the harbor. The windows are very sound proof, the air conditioning is great, the internet connection is very fast and the bathroom is like a fishbowl. It’s a big glass room with no privacy. Its like sitting on a toilet in the middle of the lobby.

Gretchen brought a little roll of gaffers tape with her (what a great addition to the road pack) and we got to put it to good use as we taped Korcula maps to the glass door. I applaud the lack of modesty of the Korcula Croatians. I used to love the photo of Frank Zappa on the toilet, but for us, there is something comforting about being removed from the rest of the world for such private moments.

There are a few small town between Vela Luka and Korcula. We did a few drive-byes but never got out of the car.

West of Korcula, is Pupnat where they revived the tradition of severing the head of an ox during a festival dance in 1999. The revival only lasted a year. After the public outrage poured in, the Pupnats toned it down a bit.

Close to Vela Luka is the wine growing district of Blato, which is a perfect name for a wine growing district. These days the town is also famous as the birthplace of Marija Petkovic, a local nun who helped sick and neglected children around the world. She was beatified in 2002 and there is an annual pilgrimage to her home. She smiles at you from a large road sign welcoming you to Blato. She is wearing dark sunglasses. Its pretty surreal.

We did not visit Vela Spilja, the cave about 13km from Vela Luka where prehistoric earthenware was found and supposedly where Neanderthal man lived a few years back.

We did not see a local tourist version of the 17th century sword dance called the Moreska, commemorating the defeat of the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. However, we did eat a pizza called the Moresco with bacon and gorgonzola cheese.

We did not get out to any of the nearby islands for a day trip. The island of Proizd, a short water taxi ride away, was voted the most beautiful island in the Adriatic in 2007. The beaches are supposed to be splendid and, as our front desk agent told us, most of the beaches don’t have shadows. But we missed the last taxi boat over so we hung out at the local beach in Vela Luka. It was splendid enough.

And we did not go to the island of Lastovo where they celebrate the Poklad festival on Mardi Gras Tuesday. The festival commemorates the public ridicule and torture of a messenger sent by Catalan pirates. The townspeople paraded him through the street, then slid him down a rope and burned him at the stake. The modern version uses a straw Poklad.

On our last night in Vela Luka we were sitting up on the balcony of the Bata Grill when 20 or so costumed locals started marching up and down the through the center of town. They ended up at the church for a grand ethnic folk festival of songs and dance. It wasn’t the sword dance but it was fun for about 20 minutes.

Well, it’s a cloudy day today. A weather front is moving in and we’re moving out. We’re schedule on the boat ferry to take us back to Split for a quick visit and then off to Zagreb.