KORCULA.,,,,..I learned on this trip that there was a “ch” sound in the middle of the name. I already knew that it was the home of Marco Polo, except in Korcula it‘s spelled “Marko“. I figured that since I have traveled the world so much, I owed it to myself to make a pilgrimage to his home.

As the bus turned the corner on the mountain top and I saw Korcula below, I thought, “What a charming city!” The medieval walled town was perfectly set on the tip of a peninsula jutting into the Peljesac Channel. A grand stairway called the Land Gate (Kopnena Vrata) from the 1650’s lead up to old Korcula’s city wall, which was built and expanded for protection in the14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. And, not far beyond that was a woman who lead me on to my rented apartment. It would have been impossible to get lost in the old town; it was so small! But, it would have equally been impossible to find the apartment without help. It wasn’t well marked and all the streets tended to look alike.

I figured that there would be some grand and noble statue of Marco Polo somewhere. Nope, but there was a metal portrait of him outside his home, a museum (closed for renovations). I guess Korcula relied more on its sunshine than its history for tourism.

MARTIN