The last stop of my Croatia trip with Mum and Dad in May this year was the little island of Korcula. It is another true island of slow living, which I got the pleasure of now knowing after Vis- which delighted us couple of years back. Ironically life got so busy since I returned from Korcula that I didn’t have the chance to record this beautiful place.
Better late than never! This place is advertised as ‘mini-Dubrovnik’, but I found it to be an imitation of nothing, and in fact intensely proud of being itself. We arrived by ferry in the late afternoon, and found the number of restaurants perhaps more than the number of tourists. We decided to get dinner packed to eat up in out absolutely charming apartment overlooking the sea.
As we sat waiting for our order, one of the waiting staff (who we soon realized was also the owner) of the restaurant came by and went out of his way to tell us about the island. He wanted to know which other places we had seen so far, and what we thought about them. He informed us that Korcula had consciously decided some years back not to go down the route of several other islands, and wanted to ‘contain’ the number of tourists to a reasonable number. “I want to talk to my customers. I want to know about them, and tell them about us. Being a waiter does not mean just bringing food. I should know who is this person who comes into my restaurant.” His pride in his town and his work struck a chord somewhere. How often do we take a decision to bypass economic gain, in the interest of integrity?
We walked around this magical little place in the pinkish golden glow of the late afternoon/ evening, and felt truly transported in time.
We savoured the charming old town and the sea front the next day. The old town is full of legends of Marco Polo (who this town claims originated here, but there is some dispute around the fact!), art shops, chapels, restaurants in by-lanes, and plenty of happy vibe.
An incident that I will not forget- our host at the apartment had advised us one special restaurant where we apparently MUST eat. It is running since several generations, best food ever etc. etc. So we spent some time to find it at lunch. To our surprise it was quite empty. We wondered if it was because we were a little bit delayed from the lunch hour.
Well the mystery soon sorted itself out when we had a look at the menu card- the place was not expensive, it was outlandish! My mum and dad and I looked at each other and immediately knew what we must do- “Ok so which are the dishes not on the menu?” I watched in great amusement as my parents acted like pros, asking for specific dishes not on the menu and then expressing great disappointment on being told they were not available. We walked out still hungry, but not robbed of all our money, and genuinely amused!
There were a great many shops selling beautiful handmade products- soaps, a lot of crochet, baby dresses, aprons, pottery etc. The owners were simple but proud people- they would proudly tell you that everything in the shop has been made on this very island, and in fact by their own family members. “My wife makes these,” the gentlemen would say showing you some beautiful thing or another. “Nothing is imported,” they will proudly say. The pride in making money through the product of one’s own efforts starts early here perhaps.
There was this adorable little guy- his name is Amal, who set up his own ‘shop’ on a napkin outside his mother’s boutique store. He was selling sea-shells he had collected. He mainly said ‘hello’ many times. He was the sweetest little thing on this sweet little island!
The waters around the island reflect the town and the town reflects the water… both calm, pure and natural- asking you to linger in the moment..
I will be going back..
