Day 5 - Walled towns, Fishbones and Sword Dancing

We left Sipan this morning. There had been a storm last night with sheet lightening. Neither Mum nor I had seen or heard a thing! However, all the seating on the lounge deck had been blown to one side and a plant pot had fallen over, going by the wee pile of stones and soil on the deck.

We left Sipan and travelled to a small bay on a peninsula of the mainland for a swim. I noticed last night that I had caught the sun on my back and today had a headache – probably from overdoing it yesterday in the sun.  This meant that I didn’t go in the water but stayed on the bow of the lounge deck enjoying the gentle rocking of the boat and the sunshine.

We left the bay just before lunch. I wasn’t feeling much better and didn’t do lunch justice (pork ribs). After lunch I went to bed until we arrived in Korčula. It was very noisy when we docked!

Docked at Korčula

Korčula is a walled town situated on a peninsula of Korčula island.  The town started as a Greek colony and there is a written document, a huge stone plate, which outlines how the land will be divided between the Greeks and the native Illyrians. So the Greeks were the first tourists to this area!

The name Korčula comes from the Ancient Greeks who were inspired to name the island Melaina Korkyra (Black Corfu or Corcyra, as their homeland region was once known) when they settled here in 6 BC, due to the dark, dense pine forests that covered the island.

View over Korčula

The old town of Korčula is encircled with walls and has the sea on three of its four sides. As Mum and I had some free time before our scheduled walking tour we walked to the viewpoint above the town before returning to walk around the walls.

Korčula Old Town (nicknamed ‘Little Dubrovnik,’) is a typical medieval, walled Dalmatian town, with its round defensive wall, towers and terracotta red-roofed houses. Facing a narrow sea channel, its little alleys around the main street and the square are in the shape of a fishbone to serve as natural air conditioning regulating the wind flow, while its walls protect it from winter storms and cold winds.

The walking tour took us round a section of the walls before entering the town proper down the narrow “bones” of the fish. As we walked down the narrow streets we noticed that many of the older houses in Korčula have protruding stones at the top of their windows – these were for curtains! It would allow the cool air to enter the building while keeping the sun out. White material was used to further reflect the sun away from the windows and so kept the inside of the buildings cool.

Around Korčula

Korčula is considered to be the birthplace of Marco Polo (1254 – 1324), a Venetian merchant, and one of the most notable travellers who impacted many adventurers — including Christopher Columbus — to sail off and explore the world. As we continued on our tour we passed the Marco Polo Center and emerged into the small square that houses the 14^th century Gothic St. Peter’s Church. Next to this church is the Cathedral of Saint Mark, also known as Korčula Cathedral.

We ended our walking tour by exiting Korčula through the Revelin Tower and Land Gate. This dates back to the 13^th century and has a relief sculpture of a lion on the front façade , a nod to the town’s Venetian heritage when it was under Venetian rule.

After we returned from the walking tour we had canapes, well Mum did. I was still feeling a bit wonky so only had a banana, before going to see a Moreska performance.

Moreska, or the Korčula Sword Dance, is a traditional sword dance and drama that was common through the Mediterranean in the 12^th and 13^th centuries. It reached Korčula in the 16^th century from Italy and Dubrovnik. Although it was once widespread in the Mediterranean it is now only performed in Korčula .

Briefly, the dance follows the story of the conflict between the Red King (locally called “White”) versus Black King and their soldiers, as Bula, the Red King’s fiancée, is captured by Black army. Following the dialogues between Kings, the romantic and ritualized sword battle starts, and is performed in seven circles representing seven different dances with swords. Finally Black King is conquered and Bula happily returns into the arms of her beloved Red King.

We had the best seats – in fact I think the performance was mainly put on just for us! It was really spectacular as the dances with swords included actual contact – I’m sure that there were some rivalries between the soldiers. Sparks flew everywhere and some of the dancers had to exchange swords as they had broken their original ones!

After the performance we returned to the yacht and a buffet dinner – I was actually hungry this time but only until I was half way through my meal and then lost my appetite.