Wineries and Korcula

Some morning shots of the lovely town of Hvar before all the activity starts. You can see the view from the breakfast table which made it very hard to want to get on the trail today.

We left Hvar this morning for a dirt road though vineyards.  The grapes are just starting to grow but the south side of Hvar is full of small vineyards. The trail wasn't hard at all which left us time to look at the flowers - I marveled (and was a little mortified) by how tall dandelions grow here. We also picked large poppies - the type used for drug production. We had views of the water all morning with the mountains on the other side - rather marvelous.

The trail was a very easy one and we ended up at the beach where they guys hit the water again despite being told it was colder than yesterday.  As both the air was cooler-I was comfortable walking in a sun block shirt- and the water was deeper and colder, you were not getting me near it.  I watched some fish from the dock as the water hear is so clear, you can see lots of fish swimming in it.

Much of Croatian, or at least Dalmatian coast society, remains above a subsistence economy where everyone grows and fishes for their food and seeks their surplus,so there are not lots of wineries the way this much grape acreage would produce in a place like California. The one we visited does produce wine for export and has been around for about 15 years.  They won awards for their white wine almost immediately and their 2001 and 2003 red vintages are collectibles. We were served bread with olive oil, ham, cheese, egg salad and the Croatian staple of octopus with the wine tasting as we tasted three bottles, two whites and a red. The first white is not exported so that is what I bought for gifts.  The others were stronger than most local wines we have tasted which tend to be very mild, likely the result of the fact that they are made in small quantities for local only consumption.  I asked the wine expert what training he had and he said there was no formal education in such things, just what one learns on the job- a far cry from the US or French approach, and another sign that this country is just getting to its feet after independence and the resulting war. After a ride back to Hvar, we boarded another catamaran for a trip to Korcula.  We were on a catamaran that transported the Pope to Korcula in 2003 and as one would expect, that is commemorated in multiple places on the boat.

Korcula is far less touristy than the other islands, very agricultural and known for it's Venetian fort in the city of the same name and for the time Marco Polo spent here.  Locals like to challenge the Venetians to claim Korcula as his birthplace.  The old city and the fort are in good shape and with a harbor surrounded by yachts visiting for the day.  I of course needed to explore it as soon as we hit the ground.

Tonight we went to a pecca- did I spell it differently when it wrote it earlier this week.  It was under the sky in a vineyard and farm that has been in the same family for 500 years. Our host made sure we all stayed out of the outdoor kitchen and the family (joined at times by our guides) sang local folk songs for us and played a cello, guitar and accordion.  They tried to teach us a song about a girl named Marianne but we were pretty hopeless.

A Czech group was also there for dinner and they joined along and then noticed one of their party was a doppelgänger for one of ours.  Everyone took pictures of the "twins"- something all the more amazing because our twin was born in Taiwan. As for food: we started with fried bread dough, then went to ham, cheese and fried zucchini, a salad, homemade pasta with and without meat, and then lamb and chicken and veal with the veggies,and potatoes in the pecca.  Pretty sure I am not walking along the Croatian cost but rather eating my way around.