The contract is signed yesterday about beginning of adaptation and interior adjustments of part of Korcula’s Arneri Palace as well as compelate reconstruction of old school building in Zrnovo - Mratin.

Both buildings will be adjusted for future needs of Archive Centre for Island of Korcula, Peljesac Peninsula and Island of Lastovo (Sabirni arhivski centar otoka Kor?ule, Lastova i poluotoka Pelje?ca).

The works, that are worth about 9.5 milion kuna, will start in next few days, and are expected to be compleated by the end of this year.

The works will be financed by Croatian Ministarstvo mora, turizma, prometa i razvitka, Croatian Ministry of Culture, Dubrovnik-Neretva County and Town of Korcula.

Yes, in 1958 film “Crni Biseri” by Bosnian directory Toma Janjic was filmed in locations around Korcula and Badija.

I watched it again yesterday, and decided to rip some stills and scenes that are among my favorites to make compilation for visitors of www.korculainfo.com

So, if you are interested to see what is my choice , follow these links:

My favorite stills from the film ” Crni Biseri”

My favorite clips/scenes/ from the film “Crni Biseri”

Read more about the film “Crni Biseri”

Following a recently arisen scandal about privatisation of the tourist company ?Suncani Hvar?, the Korcula Municipal Authority is holding a meeting tonight about the Hotel Company Korcula’s (HTP Korcula) future ownership.

The Korcula Municipal authority (Poglavarsto Grada Korcule) will demand from the Croatian Government and its Privatisation Fund to apply the same solution to the privatisation of HTP Korcula as it was applied in case of ?Suncani Hvar?.

This will mean that eventually, after the whole process, the Croatian Government will have to transfer ovnership of 25% + 1 shares of HTP Korcula to Korcula Municipality.

This will allow active role of the local community in making strategic decision on the future of this tourist company.

However, according to the Croatian Government sources, they are unwilling to apply a ?Suncani Hvar solution?.

Final solution of future ownership of “HTP Korcula” is an important issue for us, as a significant proportion of fixed assets of HTP Korcula are aquired by transfer from the public (as well as private) sector during the socialist era.

( Hotel Company Korcula - HTP Korcula -Korcula Hotels is the owner of all Korcula hotels, as well as Camp Kalac and various other smaller and larger properties within Town of Korcula.)

I regurarly read blogs and comments regarding travel around Korcula, as it gives me good insight about visitor’s experiences of our Island.

Recently I found blog entry , written by Chris Thomas from New Zealand, who visited Korcula last November and who, despite some “technical” problems regarding travelling from Korcula to Dubrovnik, had pretty positive impression about our hospitality.

This is the excerpt from his blog that talks about his experience of Korcula :

” From Hvar, the plan was to island hop down to Dubrovnik. Now this was always going to be a challenging affair in the off-season, but it started promisingly enough, with the ferry turning up as expected and depositing us at Vela Luka, next to the bus to Korcula town on the island of the same name.

This is where the difficulties started. Firstly, the ferry terminal was a couple of km out of town. This slight problem was overcome by convincing the bus driver to run us out there, just in time for the ferry to Orebic.

At Orebic, things got progressively worse. The bus to Dubrovnik did not actually exist (until the next morning anyway). Faced with an unplanned stop in Orebic, we thought we would just grab a hotel and a bite to eat and head on down to Dubrovnik in the morning. However, the entire town was shut, including every restaurant, hotel and apartment.

We asked if they could help us at the information centre, where they quite accurately told us “no” they could not.

Wondering if a cold night on the beach was the next step, we ended up in a pub drinking with the locals. Several rounds later it turned out that a lady at the bar worked for the ferry company and knew someone in Korcula town that would “look after us”.

The fella was true to her word, and soon after catching the ferry back to the island we had negotiated to rent his mate’s apartment and for him to give us a lift to Dubrovnik in the morning - for less than a hotel and bus would have been. The major benefit of this arrangement was being able to travel when we wanted to, rather than needing to be at the bus station before 7am the following morning!

So after a somewhat interesting trip, we arrived in Dubrovnik around 11am the following day….”

I really enjoyed reading this entry and wanted to share it with the world

Also, I wish I know who was that annonymus guy who sorted out everything for Chris and his friends.

He deserves a drink !

Link to the Chris Thomas complete article ishere

The road works on the new bypass to Lumbarda Beaches are now in full swing and are expected to be completed by the beginning of summer 2007.

The bypass route will join the existing Lumbarda road, which runs straight along the seashore, to create a loop road around the centre of the Lumbarda village.

The loop road will begin at the Javic area of Lumbrada and continue via the Kosovo area until it reaches the crossroads of Sveti Bartol Church near Vela Przina Beach.

Here it joins the already existing access road which goes to Bilin Zal Beach as well as to Tatinja Beach (via new walking path).

The old existing Lumbrada road along the seashore was not built to sustain a large number of vehicles and is rather narrow.

In recent years during summertime, the increase of traffic through the village towards the beaches is sometimes unbearable.

With the new bypass in place, traffic jams will hopefully be a thing of the past for Lumbarda.

The project is being financed by the Ministry of Sea Tourism Transport and Development of the Republic of Croatia with the support of the Municipality of Lumbarda.

Tower Balbi, the largest and most attractive amongst all the Korcula towers, which dates back from 15th century, is currently undergoing repair work.

Scaffolding has been erected around the tower and the cracks in the mortar are being filled to prevent further erosion of the structure.

Repair work at Tower Balbi is financed by Municipality of Korcula and the state?s Ministry of Culture.

Work is expected to be finished by the end of next month.

About Tower Balbi:

Tower Balbi is built in 15th century by Venetian Republic who ruled Korcula in that period.

It is named after Alviso Balbi, the Doge of Venice at the time, whose initials (AB) are carved at the bar relief of Winged Lion of St. Mark - Venice (symbol of Venetian Republic) that is proudly displayed at the front of the Tower.

Locals call this tower ?Tower Kanavelic? after a 16th century Korcula poet, whose house is built next to the tower and the terrace at the top of the tower was used by the poet as place to sit and enjoy the views over the Peljesac Channel.

Nowadays, the tower is used as storage for the local police station, located next to it.

More info about Towers in Korcula:

Last year tower repairs ? Tower Rampada
About Korcula Walls and Towers

Work is going on at the new pedestrian pathway in Lumbarda, which will connect Lumbarda’s beaches Tatinja and Bilin Zal.

This new pathway will enable pedestrians to reach Beach Bilin Zal as well as Vela Przina Beach from the centre of Lumbarda without any interruption from cars or any other vehicles.

Along the path, across the islets of Knezic and Vlaka in Skoji Archipelago there will be additional swimming and sun bathing areas arranged.

For evening walkers, public lighting will also be installed, so this new sea shore stretch is expected to be a popular strolling route after dark.

This new pathway is expected to be completed and fully functional within next couple of months.

The project is financed by Lumbarda municipality.

This bit of the path is already finished.

Views towards Tatinja Beach from finished part of the path.

Click to see large panorama photo of Lumbarda beaches, Island of Korcula

+ More nice panorama photos of Lumbarda :
Lumbarada Panorama 1
Lumbarda Panorama 2

+ Read about Korcula Beaches