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I was in Croatia at the end of 1998. The war had been over for a few years (Dubrovnik was mostly restored), but the fighting lasted longer in Bosnia and Kosovo. The country was still pretty empty of tourists from the West.
I met a great British couple on the ferry to Korcula. After roaming around the city and a short nap, we met to grab dinner. We wandered the empty streets of the old walled in city and found ourselves in the Cathedral square. Quite small, magnificently old-style, and quiet. One of the restaurants had a few tables outside under some eaves. There was another young couple holding hands and driking wine. We thought this was right for the three of us.
We ordered wine. wine and wine. The waiter kept running out and filling up our glasses and replenishing the bread and bowls of olives. (I learned to eat olives in Crotia. Hated them till I got there. But every restaurant put out a bowl of olives, and when I didn't eat them, I got very curious looks. Now I pop them like, well, like olives.) We couldn't figure out the menu, so we told the fella to just bring us food. Without getting into detail, it was some of the freshest most wonderful seafood I've ever had.
Half way through our meal, the restaurant brought out two long tables and set them up, end to end, in front of the door to the Cathedral. (which was close, of course.) Then, about 15 men, mostly in their 20s, a few in their teens and approaching 50ish, sat down. They ordered a banquet of food that should have been in a movie. We exchanged toasts from across the square. They sent over some stuff for us to taste. We responded in kind.
It ends up that they were Germans and Austrians, sailing around the Mediterranean. As the dinner wound down, one older guy, wonderfully rotund with a fat, red face ringed by snow white hair and a bushy beard, sent the youngest guy running off. The kid returned with a huge accordian. And the music started.
They began with the two older gentleman singing sad somber tales, which they later explained to us were about loves lost at sea. But soon the tempo picked up. As did the wine. And then a waiter came out with his violin. At by 11 p.m., twenty-five people were dancing and laughing in this little, centuries old square, under the brightest Adriatic sky, in front of that beautiful Cathedral.
What a wonderful night.
I met a great British couple on the ferry to Korcula. After roaming around the city and a short nap, we met to grab dinner. We wandered the empty streets of the old walled in city and found ourselves in the Cathedral square. Quite small, magnificently old-style, and quiet. One of the restaurants had a few tables outside under some eaves. There was another young couple holding hands and driking wine. We thought this was right for the three of us.
We ordered wine. wine and wine. The waiter kept running out and filling up our glasses and replenishing the bread and bowls of olives. (I learned to eat olives in Crotia. Hated them till I got there. But every restaurant put out a bowl of olives, and when I didn't eat them, I got very curious looks. Now I pop them like, well, like olives.) We couldn't figure out the menu, so we told the fella to just bring us food. Without getting into detail, it was some of the freshest most wonderful seafood I've ever had.
Half way through our meal, the restaurant brought out two long tables and set them up, end to end, in front of the door to the Cathedral. (which was close, of course.) Then, about 15 men, mostly in their 20s, a few in their teens and approaching 50ish, sat down. They ordered a banquet of food that should have been in a movie. We exchanged toasts from across the square. They sent over some stuff for us to taste. We responded in kind.
It ends up that they were Germans and Austrians, sailing around the Mediterranean. As the dinner wound down, one older guy, wonderfully rotund with a fat, red face ringed by snow white hair and a bushy beard, sent the youngest guy running off. The kid returned with a huge accordian. And the music started.
They began with the two older gentleman singing sad somber tales, which they later explained to us were about loves lost at sea. But soon the tempo picked up. As did the wine. And then a waiter came out with his violin. At by 11 p.m., twenty-five people were dancing and laughing in this little, centuries old square, under the brightest Adriatic sky, in front of that beautiful Cathedral.
What a wonderful night.
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Re: My Night In Korcula
06/24Sounds wonderful!! I need to experiment with olives more. I only eat the black pearls, but I have not seen them over there. I don't really like the ones over there but I need to try more types.
I was in a small town in Istria last year called Barban where they hosted several bus loads of tourists for a similar feast in the town square. There was music and dancing and then they got the audience involved in some activities. The funniest was where they picked out couples and the female had to dress the man as a woman. The best looking she-male won a prize. They also had men wheeling their lady around in a wheelbarrel for a jousting competition. It was a fun night!!
