Instead of heading straight from Hvar to Dubrovnik, I caught another ferry to the island of Korcula, halfway between the two. It had been recommended by a few different people I'd met and I wasn't yet ready to leave the coast, sun and sea behind just yet.
I was greeted at the boat by a crazy South African wearing a sombrero, who turned out to be the owner of the Korcula Backpacker - also called the "Fun Club" or "Happy House", depending who you're talking to. It turned out to be a fantastic place to chill out for a few days and the crowd there was great company. Every evening we'd all relax in the lounge together with a few beers watching the nightly film. We'd then roll onto the cheesy Dos Locos bar or the wicked Tower Bar (atop one of the old ramparts, you had to climb up a ladder to get up onto the roof) for a few more drinks before finishing the night off at the only nightclub in town (to give you some idea of what it was like I'll say two words - foam party). We'd usually see the sun come up before crashing back in the dorms for a couple of hours kip. The days were spent wandering around the small Old Town, or lying on yet another pebble beach.
I wanted to see a little bit more of Korcula island and rented a scooter for one day to fang around. I was able to cover the whole island, which was about one hour from end to end. The coastline was really beautiful (no real beaches though...) with views across to the other islands, and the interior of the island was very mountainous and extremely dry. I explored the coastline throughout the day and found a few quiet little coves to stop off at for a cool swim and to work on my tan. :-)
A secluded beach I found. On my "hog". B-b-b-bad to the bone...
I also had the unfortunate situation of having some stuff stolen from the hostel. Security was a concern as neither the front door nor the doors to the dorms were locked. Sure enough someone came in at around dawn when we were asleep and grabbed a handful of stuff from the ends of some beds. I was woken up in the morning to some guy swearing that his camera and wallet had been stolen out of his jeans, which had been found in the hallway. I got up and found my own jeans in the hallway with the cash out of the pockets! Yikes!! I then raced back into the room and took tally of the other things of mine that were stolen - my toiletries bag for one, which pissed me off because I had some sentimental stuff like a few rings etc. in there. We had a possible ID on the guy (someone had seen a stranger acting weird in one of the rooms) so we called the cops and I had to make my second appearance at a Croatian police station in just a couple of days to make a statement!
Aha, but the story doesn't end there!! The next night I was sleeping upstairs in another room (I'd asked to move away from the room near the front door) when I heard all sorts of shouting and commotion downstairs. I knew immediately what was going on - the thief had come back! I roared down the stairs and sure enough found a couple of the other guys wrestling with this guy we quickly ID'd as the same idiot from the previous night (not only was it the same time but he was wearing the same clothes)! He denied everything ("I was looking for a friend...") but the cops saw through his bullshit. He was charged with theft, and when the police went to his place they found the stuff he'd stolen - yay! Not often you get to catch a thief and get a little justice, but damn it felt good!
Oh here's a little irony... We later bumped into our thief in the Old Town in the middle of the night and found out that his job was to watch over the market stalls there and ensure that nothing gets stolen! Ha! Anyway, his name is dirt now around town...
I had a real soft spot for Korcula and each day extended my stay for "just one more day". After six days there I finally pulled myself away from the lure of yet another day on the beach doing sweet f#ck-all and caught the twice-weekly ferry down to Dubrovnik.
Before I forget, here's a little-known factoid about Korcula: the locals claim that Marco Polo was a local boy! Although there's no hard facts/historical records of it... The only connection between him and the town was the fact that the Venetians captured him in a battle off the coast. That hasn't stopped them milking the point for everything it's worth, and there's Marco Polo everything in town - restaurants, streets, museums, even his house!
