A Ferry (or two 🫣) to Korčula

Today we moved on from Split and sailed by fast ferry to Korčula (about 3 hours).

But not before we wished Laura a happy birthday! We all sat around the kitchen table to sing Happy Birthday and share some little treats and coffee.

We packed up and checked out of our apartment (which was amazing and only a minute or two walk from the old town).

Packs on backs again, we walked through the old town down to the ferry terminal and boarded our ferry to Korčula.

The ferry was scheduled to stop at a few other islands along the way. Milna was the first… except they didn’t stop—at least not until the ferry crashed into the stone dock wall doing probably around 5 knots 😱. Things went flying. People went flying.

Fortunately, there were no serious injuries. A few older passengers who came out of their seats had hit their heads and were asking for ice.

We were all okay!

But they put a decent ding in the front of the ferry. I guess hitting a stone wall straight on will do that.

It’s not entirely clear what happened—but we overheard mumbling of “technical issues” 🤷‍♂️.

There was a bit of scurrying about from the crew—going below deck to inspect the damage. Fortunately, they decided we needed to abandon the ship and wait for the next. Given the size and location of the ding, I didn’t fancy them trying to push on.

We all exited the ferry and waited for a new ferry to arrive.

An hour and a half later (☹️) we were back underway on a new ferry—and one that was less likely to sink.

The remainder of the journey was pretty uneventful 🙌 and we arrived in Korčula in the early afternoon.

There are always silver linings—and this time, because of the delay at Milna, we were able to check into our apartment straight away.

We were met at the ferry terminal by our host, who drove us to the apartment and showed us a few things on the way (amazing service).

When we arrived, our hosts had provided some treats for Laura’s birthday.

There were balloons 🎈 lining the stairway up to the apartment as well as a single red rose 🌹, an amazing selection of small cakes, a cheese and meat platter, a carafe of local red and white wine, as well as some candied lemon and orange rind, candied almonds, and a local herbal aperitif (strong 🤯).

We were all amazed by what our hosts had set up and put on—and the apartment is amazing. Beautiful views over the old town with a lovely bay window where you can just sit and watch the world go by in the old town and port below (with a glass of local wine 😉).

We unpacked and headed out to “get lost” in the old town. Korčula is beautiful—small and elegant. Designed like the skeleton of a fish, it has a main street that leads from the gates all the way through to the walls and the water on the other side, with small streets coming off like ribs on either side. This allows the breeze to flow and circulate through the town.

After exploring (“getting lost”) for a while, and a gelato, we headed home to get ready to head back out for dinner.

In the mid-afternoon, back at our apartment, we could hear amazing traditional Klapa singing flowing up from the old town. Apparently, small groups of local Klapa singers will perform in the old town, using the acoustics of the city walls to amplify their singing. It was a really fantastic sound.

We booked a nice little local restaurant in the old town for Laura’s birthday—Biankura Korčula.

Dinner was superb. The waitress was amazing and was great with the kids (a big plus!).

We ordered a selection of meals to share between the four of us:

• Black risotto
• Meat skewer (with sides of grilled veggies and fries)
• Grilled squid
• An extra side of grilled veggies and fries

We were also introduced to a wonderful local white wine—the POŠIP INTRADA KRAJANČIĆ—which has quickly become our favourite Croatian white wine.

Dinner and the service were fantastic. By this time, however, the breeze had picked up and it had become a little chilly out. So we headed home for the remainder of the evening—a short walk out of the old town gate and up the hill.

Once home, we chilled out with another few glasses of wine and sat in the window to watch the happenings in the old town below. This included the sword dance performance—which we could see from the view out our window.

This ended a big and eventful day (in many ways). We’re very excited to spend a few slower days here on the island.