22nd June

We woke up to sailing towards Mljet as we had breakfast. Most of the island is a National Park. There are two lakes Malo Jezero (small lake) and Veliko Jezero (Great Lake) joined by a narrow passage with a bridge over it.

Once you enter the national park it is a 10 min walk up hill along paths and stairs and then it is a 10 min walk down the paths and steps till you reach the edge of the small lake and then you walk around the shore of the lake to the point where the lakes meet. In the big lake is the islet of St Mary’s and on the island is the 12th century Benedictine Monastery and church that has 6 alters. They aren’t exactly sure why there are 6 but they believe it is to preform some ritual. There is also a restaurant there called Restaurant Melita

To reach the island from the point where the two lakes meet you take a solar powered boat on a cruise for 15 mins across to the island. When I got to the island I went and had a look through the church and around the grounds, before stopping for a drink in Restaurant Melita.

I reboarded the boat for the cruise back to where the two lakes meet, before starting the walk back out of the National Park. I went back onto our boat for lunch, and started to cruise towards the island of Korcula. The island is believed to be the birthplace of place of Marco Polo, if it isn’t his family definitely lived there and he had his mistress Lady Francesca on the island.

We did a walking tour of the town which is often referred to as little Dubrovnik due to the walled city. The inside walls are 10th century and the outer walls are 16th Century. It also had a wooden draw bridge and moat to protect the city. It was a beautiful town with over 20 private gardens surviving over 500 years inside the walled city.

The streets were redesigned in the 1500 century as there was not enough air getting into the walled city so the pulled down some walls and rebuilt the streets so that the west facing streets are straight so you can see the ocean when you look down the streets and the east facing streets are curved. It is a very successful way to cool down the walled city and it works. We were in 33 degree heat and when you stood at the end of the west facing streets there was a lovely ocean breeze and on the east facing streets you felt nothing.

We saw the sights of the town including the Main Square, Cathedral of St Lawrence and the Revelin Tower. If you climb the bell tower you will see all the hidden gardens.
On the bell tower there is a ball that is black and gold. It shows the phases of the moon, in my photos it is 1/2 black 1/2 gold because at the moment it is a 1/2 moon.

St Mark is the patron saint of the city and the lions are St Mark’s symbol. Lion with the open book is peace and a lion with a closed book depicts war.

I also learnt where the phrase passed with flying colours came from. When the ships went to war and were returning to their towns they strung flags from the ships and places they had conquered along the sails and masts of their ship. They were flying the colours of their victories so that the towns knew how successful they were as they passed. Thus they ‘passed with flying colours’.

After the tour we had free time to walk around the town.

Before sunset we all met and walked along the water front and found a lovely restaurant to sit and watch the passing yachts and people and ate dinner, before returning to the ship. 
We stayed in Korcula the night.