We woke Friday morning to that which we had avoided almost the entire trip…dark clouds and rain showers.☔️ Fortunately for us Mother Nature decided we needed to stay with the “Clear and Sunny” program and we ended up having a beautiful day!

 

I had not heard of Korcula before we booked this cruise so I had to do a little bit of extra research to find something to do during our port call. After visiting, my opinion is that Korcula is one of the hidden gems of the Adriatic! We had a wonderful time on a country walk and wine tasting with Rachael from Korcula Explorer. We toured with the same three couples we were with in Montenegro. Since we’ve already established that we all like to eat, drink, and take our time everyone meshed well and enjoyed the day!😁

We took a modified version of the first tour, since our port times didn’t allow for the exact tour on the website:

 

We started out with a short van ride to a country road where our walking tour began. We meandered up and down the gravel paths and paved country roads of Lumbarda. It was so tranquil! The weather cleared as we walked…by the time we reached our first stop the sun was shining.

 

Our first stop was at the Bire Winery where we tasted several wines including being introduced to one of the most prevalent local grapes called Grk. Grk is produced only in Korcula, and we had it at both of the wineries we visited.

 

We then made our way across more of Lumbarda to the Popic winery.

 

In addition to more Grk we were introduced to other local wines — Posip and Plavac Mali. We enjoyed a cold lunch of bread, prosciutto, cheese, and olives on a patio overlooking the vineyards with the idyllic town center of Lumbarda and the sapphire blue sea in the distance.

 

We had a great time on this tour. It was a little bit different than some of the other things we had done so it was unique as well as being enjoyable. I think we got a much better feel for the island and its people by taking the tour than we would have gotten if we had just walked around Old Town. Rachael was very pleasant and knowledgeable about her adopted home, and we enjoyed both the walk and the winery stops. I would choose Korcula Explorer again if we returned to the Adriatic and had a port call in Korcula.

After walking👣 and wining🍷 our way through Lumbarda, our van brought us back to Old Town Korcula. We wandered the narrow streets and stairs for a little while, and helped the local economy by purchasing an oil painting.

 

Honestly, by that time I was tired and my feet were begging to be set free from my  (stinky, dirty!) walking shoes! In addition my cold was winning the battle and I knew we still had busy, busy days ahead. For once we were happy to return to the ship and have a little relaxation time. We sat on the balcony through sailaway and watched the ever-changing skies over town and the surrounding mountains.

 

Later we had a very good dinner in the dining room, and I returned to the balcony for one more shot…

 

As soon as it was completely dark I continued my early to bed early to rise tour of the Adriatic coast!😴