Fevers in Korcula

After taking a night train from Slovenia, we arrived in Split, Croatia around 7 AM, with plans to take the ferry to Korcula at 10:30 AM.  That gave us just enough time to walk around a bit.  Split is the bigger city on the Adriatic Coast.  It has a small old city, within the walls of Diocletian's Palace, the retirement palace of the 3rd century AD Roman Emperor.
Around the old city is a large waterfront town, with large modern buildings interspersed with lazy Mediterranean buildings and old buildings from Roman times.   The thing that impressed me most about the old city was the way that newer buildings (some from centuries ago, some modern) were just built into and around the old ruins.  There was even a modern bank with large glass windows, which had desks,  computers, and the usual modern bank stuff, all around ancient Roman ruins sticking up out of the floor! 

After a 3 hours boat ride and another 1 hour bus ride, we arrived in Korcula.  Korcula is a beautiful old walled city, which you can walk around the circumference in about 10 minutes, and across the middle in about 4 minutes.  The only way into the old city is up numerous stairs, and the roads are only about 1 -2 yards wide, so there is no way for motorized vehicles in the old city.  We were staying in a lovely apartment just outside the old city, with a small kitchenette, and a balcony with a great view of the old city and of the sea. 

What is the downside you ask?  Well, I have had a cold for about a week, which had gotten worse, so I was constantly having to blow my nose and cough.  But, that was nothing compared to poor John.  He got some sort of a virus, and spent the entire time here in bed with fevers, alternating between chills and sweats.  Most of the time, he hardly had enough energy to stand.  A couple times per day, I was able to get him up to walk the 2 minutes into town to get some food, then it would be back to bed for the rest of the day.  Fortunately, our apartment really was lovely, in a great spot.  Once we realized how sick John was (along with the fact that there was no Friday mid-day boat, but only a 6:45 AM bus/ferry/bus to get to Dubrovnik), we decided instead of only 2 nights here and traveling on, we would stay here a 3rd night.  He could stay in bed, with only a short walk for meals.  I could sit on the balcony reading, where there was a great view, and a great breeze above the city. 

One fun thing that I did here was I had the chance to go see the traditional Moreska Dance (while John stayed in bed).  It is a sword fight dance, that has been performed here for hundreds of years, and continues to be taught from one generation to the next, to be performed every Thursday.  It was a lot of fun to see.  The black king stole the princess from the red king.  Then the red and black nights "fight" to get her back, with about 10 or 12 knights on each side.  It is all very stylized fighting choreographed into the dance.  The whole dance lasted a long time, with numerous portions.  Each portion consisted of a different set of coordinated sword fighting, many of which the dancers were striking their swords hard enough to spark. 

On Friday night, John was able to muster up enough energy to go have a drink at a bar that is located in one of the old city wall towers, with a great view!  This morning, he is feeling a little better, and we will be traveling on to Dubrovnik, the "Pearl of the Adriatic".