Rosie had made a bit of a travel gaff, Korcula relies on ferries to get tourists and locals alike on and off the island. The ferries travel in and out three times a day to Dubrovnik….in summer. Now, as of the first of October they were on winter timetable which limited them to three times….a week. Of course the ferries were not running on the day Rosie and The Operator had scheduled to travel to Dubrovnik.
The only way off the island of Korcula was the 0645am bus. The Operator was a little sulky to say the least, he was hating on the bus, having never traveled on one intercity anywhere in his life before. Our trip was three hours, which also included a 20 min car ferry to the mainland, the cost being $22nzd each Rosie thought that was pretty good value.
Off we set out at 6am in the dark, carrying our bags down a hundred stairs by the light of iphone torch and trundling our bags to the bus station a ten minute walk away. It was pitch black with sparse lighting around the harbor, no one was about or up, the wheels of our cases rumbled over the cobbles giving an early morning wake up call to all houses we passed.
A gaggle of passengers were waiting, the bus turned up with five mins to spare The Driver was as grumpy as….and tried to charge for each bag being stowed…serious! We have bought tickets said Rosie no charges were mentioned for bags! Bloody bus, mumbled The Operator. Our argument regarding the bags fell on deaf ears as everyone was sheepishly pulling out money for The Driver..it was only $2nzd per bag, as Rosie handed over the money our bags were finally stowed and we picked seats on a rapidly filling bus.
We were off, no introductions or niceties from the driver whatsoever, straight to the car ferry we went. The Driver parked and hopped off the bus, all the passengers are left looking at each other….are we allowed off the bus, how long is the ferry ride? The doors of the bus were open, lets go and have a look around said Rosie…Bloody bus mumbled The Operator.
It is a short 1.3km stretch between Korcula and the mainland, the sun was rising and the sky was full of jet stream trails and the sea had a rosy reflection on the still surface from the breaking dawn. We thought we had better get back to the bus as we were beginning to pull into the dock. Everybody else was scuttling back as The Driver strode out from somewhere, swung into his seat, started the bus and shut the door on the back of the last man entering….hope everyone made it back, cause The Driver was off.
The road was beautiful, from our high vantage point we could see for miles. We climbed up the rocky hills we were now so used to seeing and switched back down the gorges with sheer vertical drops at our windows which looked straight into deep, rubbly canyons below.
The sea was always in view and beautiful bays with houses climbing up the hills overlooking their tranquil sea vistas were frequent. The Operator was thawing and beginning to enjoy the trip.
The bus pulls into a coffee shop perched high on the hill overlooking the sea and a camping bay. The Driver swings out of his seat without a word again and marches off. The doors to the bus are open and again we disembark…Rosie peers through the window of the coffee shop The Driver is sitting inside smoking a cigarette, drinking a coffee and barking into his mobile phone….we must have time for a coffee too Rosie said to The Operator, just keep your eye on The Driver and as soon as moves we will too.
The stops along the way are frequent and the towns small, The Driver doesn’t announce where he is stopping…its up to you to be vigilant and read the signs on the stations he stops at. Then, all of a sudden we are pulling into the Port of Dubrovnik. There must be one more stop in town said Rosie confidently, we wouldn’t get off here we are still a good few kms from town?
All the tourists were sitting looking at each other and not moving…well said The Operator, there is your answer…our bags were being offloaded. Rosie and The Operator hop off the bus, others sit fast, confused as to what is going on. Bloody buses…said The Operator. This was the last stop for this bus.
The Taxi Driver we hailed to take us into town from the port was awesome, he had family in Wanaka and Mt Maunganui….they keep saying he should come and visit…he hates the 45 minute flight to Zagreb….Why would I fly to New Zealand? It is too far away, plus he has heard it is very similar to here, why bother.
He dropped us off at the top of the busy ring road above the town. I go no further because the roads are too narrow, its not far for you to walk now he said, down there he said pointing to a steep footpath.
OK… traffic was shooting past us at a million miles an hour and we were high on the hill, we turned around to survey where to go and…..OMG, there was the ancient walled city of Dubrovnik at the bottom of the hill perched along the seafront in all its glory, sunhaze and all. This was our very first sighting of the old town and it was mind blowing. The sight Rosie has seen so many times in pictures and online….was there, spread out before us, for real!
Now to navigate the step switchback street to our apartment as it disappeared down the hill. Walking past the houses, most were covered in dripping greenery over their terrace to keep them nice and shady, everyone had a stunning view from this high over the Old Town. See the gondola in this picture? It takes you from the Old Town, right over the top of our apartment, to a lookout at the very top of the hill.
The hill itself and consequently the road were very steep and narrow. The street was like a canyon, hot and breezeless, the houses and retaining walls were all solid concrete radiating the heat outward. We were walking more down a lane rather than a street….hold on, here comes a car….its backing up the road!
Every house along the ‘lane’ has a carpark next to their front doors, which is either normally on the roof of their house or the house under them. When they want to exit their park or the lane, its too tight to turn around, so they back up the road to the switchback and then go forward up the next switch back. No cars can actually turn around corners facing forward because its to narrow and tight….so with a mixture of backing and then driving forward, see sawing up the switchback lanes is how you get to the ring road. Then there is the fact that this lane is actually a two way street…..see the width of the parked car below and the width of the lane, Rosie is not joking!
Our apartment is lovely, it has French doors leading out onto an amazing balcony that gives a brilliant view over the old town. Rosie was so excited, the closer we got to the city the more awesome it became.
Rosie has made a fatal mistake with booking this apartment though. The view is to die for looking over the old town. The walk downhill in anticipation of what Rosie is going to see is nice and easy…if not a little jarring on Rosie’s knees.
The climb back up to the apartment, however is a killer…exactly 385 (I kid you not) steps from the Old Town walls to Rosie’s front door. The below picture simulates Rosie’s feeling of deflation as she stands at the city gate and looks up the hill towards her apartment. You can see it. Its depressing looking how far up the hill it is. Check it out yourself, back row of houses on the hill, second full house in from the right of the picture. The one with the dark shady bits which is the veranda. 385 steps to climb….not counting the long flat uphill hauls….
The Operator didn’t mind…he loves stairs and the hotter the day the better…he went down to the wall to buy take out pizza for tea…it was still piping hot when he got back to the balcony plus the wine was still cold and icy from the bottle store fridge. Lucky Rosie didn’t go….that pizza would have been stone cold and congealed and the wine bottle would have been empty.
Still, like The Operator says, the climb is good for Rosie….Anyhow, it is what it is, Rosie cant wait to explore Dubrovnik, tomorrow properly after the sneak peak today.
