Today, Wednesday, our happy band of Croatian Language and Culture students head off at the crack of dawn to Lastovo island, where they are met by our guide for the week, Marin. An action packed day follows, although there is time for a swim, some painting, a chat, a bit of fiddling, and, of course, a delightful lunch.

Paradise Round The Next Corner Again
Today started at the unmentionable hour, at least for me, of 7.00am, but it turned out to be worth every minute. We caught the nine o’clock ferry for Lastovo and were pleased and surprised to find, not only that it was a very nice ship, but also that apart from our group it was almost empty. After a crossing of about ninety minutes we arrived at the port of Ubli and met Marin our guide who lives on the island. He explained that the name of the island came from Augustus, who came here in Roman times. From there it developed to L’Augusto and eventually to Lastovo.

Our first stop was the settlement of Lastovo which, like Blato on Korčula, is located inland away from the sea. We walked through it, visiting the central square and a large church, and saw lots of buildings built of local stone. There were colourful flowers along the way including viburnum, which was attracting lots of butterflies, and flowering cacti. At every corner there was a view of the many chapels dotted around. Eventually we arrived at a house belonging to Marin’s family and went into a room full of photos, books, musical instruments and traditional clothes. There we drank olive oil, which was notable for its unusually mild sweet taste, caused by the fact that the olives had been stored in the sea prior to pressing.

We then moved on to Pasadur, just over a bridge on an island adjoining the main island of Lastovo. Its name means difficult passage and the bridge was narrow. There we had lunch at a restaurant run by Marin’s in-laws and we were generously fed with meat and squid accompanied by vegetables and plenty of local white wine. The restaurant was located on the beautiful waterfront and, after lunch, we had time to ourselves. Some of us just went down to the water’s edge and relaxed and chatted in the shade of the trees with a drink at hand. Others went for a swim in the blue water, with two of our group swimming out to an island in the bay nearly one mile distant from the shore. An artist amongst us sketched some pictures of the area and others went for a stroll. It was so peaceful and absolutely idyllic. Once again I had found paradise round the next corner and many of our group felt the same.

Sadly the time came to drag ourselves away to catch the 7.30pm ferry back to Vela Luka. The boat was even emptier than on the outward journey and we all settled down to chat animatedly about our lovely adventure on Lastovo. We finally arrived back at the school house in time for those who were interested to watch the World Cup football match between England and Croatia while others in the group had planned to meet up in town for the same reason. At the time of writing, we will have to wait until tomorrow to know the result but I think everyone was hoping for a draw!

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For more information on Lastovo, follow this link: Tourist Board of Lastovo island – Welcome to the island of Lastovo!