While we were thinking where to take the children on unforgettable weekend, we decided to choose the island of Korcula. Since island of Korcula is a bit far and we had a lot of things to see, we set off on our trip on Wednesday. Action location was Split, the ferry port and speed boat ‘Judita’ at 4 p.m. (during summer at 5 p.m.) and after 2 hours and 45 minutes we have reached our destination – island of Korcula.
We have chosen Lumbarda, a small town in the southeast of the island 5 km from the town of Korčula, for our accommodation. The fish from the local fishermen in Lumbarda is below price at this time of year, so our table was rich in squid for risotto, grouper fish for children’s soup, grilled whitebaits and bonito fish, fried shrimps which was all together supplemented with famous wine ‘Grk’ from Lumbarda made of special type of grapes which succeeds only on that part of the island (growing in sand fields).
Besides sand fields, Lumbarda also has two big beautiful sand beaches: “Pržina” overlooking the south towards Italy and “Bilin zal” overlooking the north towards Peljesac.
The beaches are shallow and the weather was sunny so the children were able to enjoy the walk in the shallow water, building castles in the sand and collecting shells as souvenirs.
We sat down for a cup of coffee on the terrace by the sea in the center of Lumbarda and the children played on the nearby newly renovated playground. As it was May, there was still no tourists and we had the opportunity to have the city of Korcula for ourselves. Everyone welcomed us as we represented the real refreshment, like first swallows, after the long island winter.
The children enjoyed climbing on cannons at the Tower of All Saints (Rampada) on the south-eastern part of Korcula walls, running across a large circular monument (Square of Reconciliation) and playing on a giant wooden replica of the ship in a park near the bus station. Tired after a city tour, we took the children to pizza, and later to taste a great ice-cream (it is believed that Marco Polo, the world’s largest retailer and travel writer, born in Korcula, first brought the recipe for making ice cream in Europe from distant China somewhere around the year 1295).
The day before our departure we decided to visit the protected natural sight ‘Kocje’ near Zrnovo (Brdo) 4 km west of the town of Korcula. You have to park near the last houses of the village called Brdo and then walk 1,5 km. Kocje is rich in various and rare vegetation and picturesque scenery: cracks, rocks and centuries-old trees associated with many legends. The entire Kocje was covered with bright green moss as the third month was rainy.
After passing through many ruts, climbing the rocks, pretending to be dwarves and elves we finally arrived at the clearing ideal for playing with ball, picking flowers and playing hide-and-seek across numerous hidden paths in the magic forest.
Tired and muddy, we returned to the apartment where there was no need to put children to sleep since they were exhausted. We took the last walk through town of Korcula on Sunday morning after breakfast, before our speed boat to Split which was due to at 1 p.m. The island of Korcula represents an island which our children will never forget. They will always be happy when they see it again, whether it is from the ferry, speed boat or when they pass through the curve ‘Kapetan’ on Peljesac. We weren’t able to visit many locations such as: ‘Vela’ cave, little island called ‘Proizd’ and hill ‘Hum’ near town Vela Luka as well as twenty more little islands near town of Korcula. This certainly gives us a reason to go back there when it gets warmer, maybe even this summer.
