June 13 - Dubrovnik to Korcula

Spent our final morning in Dubrovnik by taking a glass-bottom boat tour around the outside of the city.  Beautiful water and views.  Not much to see in the ocean - saw a few fish, but nothing show-stopping.  But we were the only ones on the boat, so it was nice to have a personal 'cruise' around the harbor and bay.  A great way to end our stay in Dubrovnik.

Had to get a pic of the guy fishing from his boat among the tourists.  Lucky guy.

If we ever come back, we are going to find this beach.

Captain of the boat said this house rents for about $7,000 dollars a night, which means only the Russian Mafia can afford it.  Looks more like a hotel than a house.  

After leaving the old town, we headed to the bus station to catch a bus for Korcula.  The bus transportation reminded me a bit of Chile, and I think it was quite the experience for Jen.  Our bus driver was a large fellow who didn't seem too happy at his job.  We paid some money to him to store our luggage under the bus and then joined the massive crowd pushing to get onto the bus.  Once on, we all realized that our tickets had seat assignments - so much for everyone pushing to get on (definitely not like the States where people seem to line up in the order that they arrive).  This older lady kept walking to the front of the bus and then back to her seat.  Wish I understood Croatian.  Not sure what was bothering her, but she and the bus driver were going back and forth about it.  Between her and a few other interesting arguments between the bus driver and passengers, we left about 20 minutes late.

The bus did have AC, but it was still fairly hot and sticky for the 3.5 hour bus ride.  The road felt a lot like the Swing Ave (the road in between the two parks near our house), where it was just barely wide enough for two cars.  The road had lots of twists and turns and we nearly got into an accident at one point. Aside from the sketchy driving, the countryside was fantastic.  Lots of vineyards and small villages on secluded beaches highlighted the drive.  I would love to live in a place like that.  The last leg of the bus ride was a ride on a ferry in a small town called Orebic for about a 15 minute ride across the bay to Korcula.  Also very beautiful.  I should quit stating the obvious....

Korcula is like a mini-Dubrovnik with a lot less tourists.  Apparently back in the day the Venetians wanted to capture Dubrovnik, but they couldn't.  So they built up Korcula in a similar fashion - a wall around the city, etc.  Apparently, the architecture follows the Venetian style (don't ask me what that means, but there's your history lesson for the day.

Dinner in Korcula al fresco. 

Sunset behind us in Korcula.  Can't beat this view.

Ordered fish, which was a little scary since I didn't recognize any of the species they were cooking.  It ended up being delicious, but look closely at the fish on the right.... needs a little dental work me thinks.  Either that or he is very happy to be on my plate!

Heading home to our room for the night, we saw this glow halfway up the wall.  What do you think it could be?

Here's the culprit.  Is that a glow-worm?  I didn't know they existed.  I guess the Glo-Worm stuffed animals from the 80s/90s were inspired by this little guy.  I hear Kaisa had one named Wormy when she was a little tyke.

Here's the view from our room.  Pretty amazing, right?  Can't wait to explore Korcula tomorrow.