After the diplomatic briefing upon arrival in Dubrovnik, a group of seven of us SAS-ers walked out of the port and rented a car to drive to Korcúla (pronounced Kore-shoe-la), an island to the north of Dubrovnik. It was an adventurous morning and we all felt really excited to get away from the ship and explore the country of Croatia! We had a big brown van and it felt like a road trip. : ) The scenery was beautiful – the road we took followed the coastline, so we got to see both the mountains and the sea. Seriously – it was the bluest and clearest water that I’ve have seen on shore! With all of the mountains, it looks like the backdrop of a fairytale or something. So pretty.
On the way to Korcúla, we stopped around lunchtime in a town called Ston. The entire town consisted of 4 restaurants, a church with no roof (it looked like it had been bombed, actually), and one small produce stand. We stopped at a restaurant and had the most delicious seafood that I have ever eaten! I had my very first oyster – it was outrageously inexpensive as it was farmed/harvested just right down the road from the town. We also ate mussels is a delicious white wine and garlic sauce, and black seafood risotto (the squid’s ink gives it a dark black color!). The waiter also gave us some Croatian brandy to sip – on the house. I was not a fan!
We continued driving about 2 hours to Orebic where we parked and took a 15 minute ferry ride to the island of Korcúla. The big draw to this island in particular was that there was this traditional sword dance that happened every Thursday for the past 200 some years. When we got there and went to buy tickets we found out that this week – THIS WEEK – they changed it to Wednesday night. It was totally a bummer, but our trip was not wasted as we got to check out the old town center, explore the little shops and restaurants, and stick our feet in the sea.
Before we left, we stopped at a really neat bar that was on top of a tower. We had to climb up a ladder through a narrow opening to get to the bar – it was challenging with a backpack on! The bartender makes the drinks below and then the waiter pulls them up to the roof with a pulley! I got a special drink called Massimo, I think – it was cool and fruity and tasted like pineapple juice.
We caught the 8 PM ferry back to Orebic, had some DELICIOUS fried calamari and pizza for dinner, and then we were on our way again. We drove the 2 and a half hours home to the ship in Dubrovnik. This was the first day that our plans had not gone the way that we were intending, but we definitely made the most of the experience. Got back really late and were pretty exhausted, which was unfortunate because we had an early day planned for the next day. Sometimes, it’s just sad going to bed knowing you are only going to get four hours of sleep!
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