Korčula and Camp Chairs

We keep extending our stay in Korčula. We’d arrived on this island intending to camp here, a brief stop. We drove through several uninspiring campgrounds and found the first one, close to the ferry, to be the best. We had picked up some inexpensive camping gear before we left Split and Omiš, and have been carrying it with us. The weather and fairly inexpensive rentals kept us in apartments in Dubrovnik and Trpanj on the Pelješac Peninsula, and we were feeling a little guilty about leaving the sleeping bags in the back of the car with tags still on them.

However, we have yet to find any camp chairs, or at least ones that fold smaller than a large plastic suitcase, and are less than $100 each. We stood by the car in the campground, which has no picnic tables or benches, contemplating the ground. The loosely stacked, somewhat jagged rock wall was not exactly comfy for hanging out, and sitting … in the car? I guess if we just needed a place to lay our heads, and not a space for work or school, it would be OK. And what about meals? We pictured ourselves eating, served from the back of the car, standing. We have done this for a quick lunch underway, but it’s not our favorite. I have to admit at this point, I do actually miss Target.

So, we asked at a tourist office, and they lined us up with an open apartment that has internet and that is only about 20 Euro a night more than the campground costs. Originally, we’d asked for just two nights, and have extended twice. We’ll be here almost a week before we leave.

Korčula is smaller and quieter than Dubrovnik, but the old town is also a walled city. The walls are not as large and imposing, and although that makes them a little less impressive, they do not block the breeze or view from the center of town. There are several restaurants that line the walls, offering views across the water at Orebić (Yes, that would be pronounced or-a-bich. We’ve gotten a few miles out of that one…) on Pelješac.

There is a harbor for cruisers below our apartment that fills with sailboats every night. The people sit at tables on the backs of their boats, sharing meals, boats barely moving in the still water. Masts, lit by the last of the sun and light from the cabins, reflected, creating lines both upward and down, horizontal symmetry.

We’ll be sad to leave this place, I think it is my favorite in Croatia, so far. I’ve wandered, taking photos in the early sun and late day light. The old town juts into the sea, its own little peninsula, pointing Northeast. The sun washes one side in the morning, and the other in the evening. Children play soccer in a square below a turret, close to where the larger ships come in, and I join the tourists carrying large cameras trying to capture some part of our experience, frozen in time.