Hello from my dream home, Korcula Island, Croatia. After I left Dubrovnik and food poisoning behind, I think I was ready for some R & R...... and Korcula was the place. Rick Steves was spot on when he said this is the island that keeps him coming back. At left is a pic of my favorite activity on Korcula... late morning coffee and journaling with an amazing view of the Croatian mainland in the background. I met a woman who lived in Australia but was from Korcula and she was laughing that after 2 weeks you are lulled into a near-comotose state on Korcula..... she was right... and it was good.
Here is my trip on the big ferry from Dubrovnik to Korcula.. its a mellow cruise up the coast for about 3.5 hours. I found a shady spot on the deck and put my feet up. The land in the background is the Peljesic peninsula, which is known for the Little Blue grape,or ZINFANDEL BABY!!!! Mike Grigch from Napa is from Croatia orginially and has opened a premium winery on this peninsula. I was tempted to stop by and see if he would hit on me like he did 10 years ago when I was trapped in a wheelchair with a broken leg (remember ladies?) but passed. 
Here is a view of my street - I had a room with a great family, Tonci and Teresa. Both are from Korcula, and Tonci renovated this house in the old walled city where I believe his grandmother lived. My window is the one on the top left.. I could hear people walking up those stairs all the time. I don't even know the address... I just navigated by the purple Bougeanvilla by the door.
I got two dives in.. and here I am with my dive master George. He held my hand underwater and it was special. Second dive was terrific.. in addition to lots of lobsters , saw some colorful nudibranches and octopus. And Mike the real dive master let me hold the octopus.. it was great texture..kinda sticky, gelatinous, he kept moving around my hands, his tentacles did nad suckers that sucked,and he kept shooting out dark ink. It was terrific! Mike has my first George pic and has promised to send me a pic of him diving underwater.
One of the perks of Korcula, and time,was that I got to see two American movies......outside....with a view of the medieval walls,and the moon. How cool is that! Movies were silly but the experience of seeing them next to a 1000 year old walled city... priceless. Can you recognize the movie... this one is going out to Karin~!!!!!!!
Went on a tour of the Peljesac peninsula for some wine tasting. Stopped in this town and sampled mussels and oysters.
Rented a bike one day and biked south to the town of Lumbarda. There was a winery in the neighborhood but I had a hell of a time finding it... here is a pic of some of the buildings I passed. 
At dinner one night, I was close to finishing up my dinner at an outside cafe when the owner seated a large group right next to me. I geared myself for some loud conversation.. and here it came... except it was singing. In four part harmony!!! Korcula is known for its singing and has many chorus groups. This one next to me sang periodically throughout dinner - it was lovely.
One of the draws of Korcula is its famous Mariska sword dance. Its a tale that is hundreds of years old, revolving around a good (red) and bad (black) prince and their struggle over the woman both love. Here is a pic from the dance my last night in Korcula. My host,Tonci, played the good prince for years. Its a dangerous gig..... they have an orchestrated dance with swords in each hand and I saw guys cut that night.
How cute is this..... they sell plastic swords because of the dance and I caught some boys playing swords on the steps to the walled town. The little guy on the right was shy... but the kid in the middle was up for the game.. he posed for me.
My day on a real beach. Most beaches in Croatia are pebbles... which suck when you leave the water. This beach was real sand. I went there after winetasting, after picking up a huge sandwich at the market. I weaved my way through vineyards to get to this beach, and hung out for hours swimming the Adriatic and scoping out the boats that the rich French people showed up and anchored in.
Passed a boat yard on the way to winestasting.
Wine tasting here was a dream! Small place and not advertised too much.The owner told me a new major road was going in in a few months and he was hoping for more traffic. I didnt even call before I came and luckily two neighbors called him to come out. He is sealing the wax on this bottle of Little Blue, or Zin, that Karin and I will hopefully drink in Ireland (note... its still with me after two weeks.. 3 to go!). He also smoked ham and made goat cheese besides wine. And he made a killer Mandarin and Lemoncello.. Have a bottle of the Mandarin with me.
Here is my bedroom on the next trip I make to Croatia... took this picture from my coffee perch.
Another shot from the other way looking at the place I stayed on the right.. and the Adriatic in the distance. Note that this is a street! No cars in Old Town.. everything is carted in, and there are tons of stairs.
Liked this group of ladies...
My hosts Teresa and Tonci, about midnight, after the sword dance. We had dinner afterwards and they told me amazing stories of life under socialism. Like the guy Tonci knew who made a joke about Tito having beans for lunch when he was having beans. Someone ratted him out.... hard labor on a island quarry for two years. And this was Communism Lite... not as harsh as the Soviets.
Lots of beautiful stonework in Korcula - much is quarried nearby. The stone for the US White House is from an island next to Korcula.
Korcula was the southernmost point of the Venetian empire.. so there are lions and St Mark statues everywhere, just like Venice.
Marco Polo was from Korcula, before Venice adopted him. I liked this sign!
From my bikeride... heading back from the sandy beach through vineyards. You can see the mainland and Adriatic in the background. A great day. See my hand taking my pic in my sunglasses?
Reflections of the sea in a door window.
STONE, STONE, and a view of swimmers in the bay in front of the old town where I slept.
Reluctantly, I had to leave Korcula,and headed to Split on a 6am fast boat. Split is the sight of lots of Roman ruins... .one of the last Roman emporers Diocletian, was from here and built a huge palace and mausoleum to himself.
Around 800AD, Slavic groups invaded the ared and the townspeople retreated to Dio's palace. They never left... and built a town for the next 1200 years around the ruins of the Roman palace. It makes for a mosh of roman, mediaval and baroque architecture - very nifty.
I liked the Palace, and especially the tomb of Dio that has been converted to the oldest active Christian church in the world. Irony, that one, since Dio executed many Christians , and now his body is lost, and the tombs of some of the saints that he killed are now buried in his tomb. However, besides the palace area, I wasn't a fan of Split. Lots of tourists, lots of money, lots of tourists spending money in shops. And I had one of the few bad rooms in a socialist era concrete apartment building on the edge of town.. I took this pic from my window the morning I left.. Took a train to Zagreb and then Ljubljana, Slovenia. Ended up staying two weeks in Croatia.....loved it!
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