Things to do
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Korčula Old Town
Laid out on a small peninsula, the walled town runs on a herringbone plan: a central spine with lanes curving on one side to block the winter bura and running straight on the other to draw in the summer breeze. Marble paving and Venetian stonework fill a grid walkable in an hour. Tenders from cruise ships land at midday and the lanes thin again by evening.
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Marco Polo House
Tradition on the island makes the explorer a son of Korčula, and a narrow stone house near the cathedral carries his name on that basis, without a document to confirm it. Restoration has kept much of the building behind scaffolding for years and the displays inside stay thin. The tower stair and the rooftop view over the old town are what draw visitors up.
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Revelin Tower and Land Gate
The main landward entrance to the old town passes under a fourteenth century tower, reached now by a broad baroque staircase added when the moat was filled. Inside, an exhibition covers the Moreška, the sword dance still performed here in summer. The roof terrace looks straight down the main street to the cathedral, which is why the climb gets busy towards sunset.
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St. Mark's Cathedral
Korčula's cathedral took shape across two centuries on the highest ground of the peninsula, its portal carved with Adam and Eve and flanked by lions, its altar carrying a Tintoretto. Island masons worked the pale stone that Korčula exported across the Adriatic. The bell tower opens in season for a climb up narrow stairs to a gallery over the rooftops and the channel.
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Town Museum of Korčula
Opposite the cathedral, a Renaissance palace built for the Gabrielis family holds four floors on the island's trades: stonemasonry, shipbuilding and the Greek settlement at Lumbarda, whose inscribed tablet recording a division of land is the oldest written record from Croatian soil. Rooms are small and the stairs steep. An hour is enough, and the top floor kitchen is worth reaching.
