The unusual transfer to Korcula

What began as just a late start suddently became quite strange and unnerving.  We were to be picked up at the Hotel Lapad by 4:45 pm. 

That time came and went, as did 5, and 5:15 and about that time I thought perhaps they may have left a message at teh front desk and Elda went to check while I waited with out bags.  Indeed they were to be late; and could be arriving any time between then and 5:30. Just a minute or two before 5:30 he arrived.  I say "he" as we never did learn his name.  "Korcula?", he said. Or at least I think that is what he said.  "Yes", I replied and within one minute our bags were snatched out of our hands and loaded into the back of the van and we were ushered into the front.  At this point I personally had not seen anything to indicate he was with the right company, knew who we were, or what the plan was.  And I swear, no word of a lie, he probably did not speak more than 5 words to us for the entire trip other then we forced answers out of him, and it turned out to be a long trip.

In the van he got, and off we went.  Elda said she saw the company's name on his door so at least I felt a little better about it.  Off through Lapad town we went - discovering where our one-way road actually ends up, and the next thing we know we are heading for the hills.  Okay this seemed wrong as I was under the assumption they were picking us up, transferring us onto a ferry and then someone was picking us up on the other side to finish our "door-to-door" service.  When we requested clarification all we got was that everything was okay!  Not very reassurring, particularly when he then takes us to an industrial area of town to "pick something up" and just leaves us in the van with the motor running.  Eventually he did come back, and we asked him to look at our voucher and make sure he ws taking us to th right place.  "Yes, yes", he said, "I need to get there too so we are going to the right place".

Okay then, guess with that out of the way we could enjoy the scenery.  Which would have been easier if he was driving with one hand, no seatbelt, rummaging in his bag on the floor, swerving in and out of our lane and around tight mountainous corners while talking on his cell phone.  Time for a moment of pray for our safety I think!  And the conversations he was having were not happy ones - even in Croatian we could tell that.

The countryside was delightful and grew more so the further away from town we went.  The second hour was even nicer as we passed by the remains of old walled cities and vineyards lining the road.  Now keep in mind that the trip from beginning to end was supposed to be 2 hours total.  So about the time we were driving by vineyards and watching the sun set we had been expecting to be buying tickets to see the Moreska dancers and getting ready to have a relaxing dinner on Korcula.  Yet here we were still very much inland following the Dalmatian coast north bound.  When 2.5 hours had passed and we had yet to see water we were beginning to wonder if we were going via Split!  Fortunately we then started seeing signs stating how far away Korcula was.  67km away?  How could that be?  Yet when I read the next sign and it said 65km away I knew I had read it right.  Okay so we were going via Orebic - at least I remember seeing this was another port that you can get to Korcula from.

Finally sometime in the third hour we start seeing ferry signs - good signs for us.  But when he goes to the ferry terminal; then gets back into the van and drives away we no longer know what to think.  Remember throughout all of this, other then the angry Croatian cell phone conversations, he has not said a word to us.  So down the coast again we go, but at least now we see water and the lights of Korcula in the distance.  Suddenly he pulls over, turns off his lights and backs down to the waters edge and we see a small boat idling there with its lights off too. Then another van pulls up with 6 more people in it.  He indicated for us to get out of the van, our bags were removed and it seemed pretty clear we were expected to get on the boat.  Felt like we were getting smuggled out of the country in the middle of the night on a little cruiser being captained by a 12 year old (not kidding).

On the trip over to the island, still with no lights on in the boat, the cell phone conversations continued.  We figured out later he was phoning our contact and telling her they would not be escorting us and that she had to come get us at the dock to finish the |door-todoor| service.  The process repeated itself in reverse for off-loading and without so much as a good-bye our driver was gone.

Then a mad rush for the house began, hands were shook, introductions were made and then our hostess prompted us quickly to follow her....up the docks, up the stairs, up the hill, more stairs, through her outer courtyard, up more stairs, and finally UP MORE STAIRS! Having had the quickest orientation ever she disappeared saying her ferry was leaving and that was the last we saw of anyone in the house until 5am the day we left for Split when another couple on the first floor were also going down to meet the ferry, not so bright eyed and bushy tailed.