Excursions
around Korcula
More than 1,100 islands lie off the coast of Croatia, and for
many visitors the crown jewel of this Adriatic archipelago is
Korcula. The island, along with the rest of the isles in the
Dalmatian chain, managed to escape the violence of the sad and
lengthy conflict that followed the breakup of Yugoslavia in
the early 1990s, and today travelers are once again returning
to rediscover Korcula’s charms.
Likely as not, they begin in Korcula town, where a network
of narrow, cobbled streets dating to the 8th-century line this
walled medieval fortress. Not surprisingly, here at the edge
of the Mediterranean, Greeks were the island’s earliest
settlers. But it was the Venetians who left a lasting stamp
in the old town, with its own St. Mark’s Cathedral –
a perfect setting for the carnival celebrations and masked balls
held from January to Ash Wednesday.
Much of the island outside the town is covered with pine forest,
and while beaches are not the main attraction here, there is
a nice sandy strand at Lumbarda, at the southeastern end of
the island. Sailors, meanwhile, love these islands, where the
winds are steady and anchorages plentiful. Some of them say
the islands here remind them of Greece, say 30 or 40 years ago…
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