Vela Luka-Island of Korcula-Croatia

GENERAL INFORMATION

On the western part of Korčula Island lies the town of Vela Luka, a small town situated in a deep and large bay, surrounded with many coves, whose shores are covered with fig trees, vineyards, olive trees and pines as they mildly descend to the sea.Vela Luka is the second largest town on the Adriatic islands (population 4.500) and a safe port and anchorage for sailors. Scattered like pearls in the bay of Vela Luka, the little islands Proizd and Ošjak celebrated in songs are popular tourist excursion destinations,

virgin oases surrounded by clear sea and covered with thick pine woods.

Quite a number of archeological studies and papers were published about the prehistoric times of Vela Luka, especially those about its cave called Vela spilja (Grand Cave), known for the discovery of skeletons dating back to the Neolithic Stone Age.

One of the most important prehistoric finds in Europe,

providing us with a picture of life on the Mediterranean in the last twenty thousand years.There is a valuable archaeological collection of objects that have been found on this site in the Culture Centre Museum in the town centre of Vela Luka, and visitors can visit the cave in two ways: By car, for there is a 2,5 km road leading from Kale cove to the cave, or on foot along a walking path on the Pinski Rat Mountain.

Vela Luka is home to many talented musicians and artists, hardworking and many-sided people, as well as the place of tradition. About thirty artists-amateurs work and live here and "the most beautiful cove in the whole world " or “najlipša vala na svitu”, how they call Vela Luka, is where many famous artists were born, e.g. Izvor Oreb, a sculptor, a painter and a poet, Danijel Dragojević, a poet, late academic Šime Vučetić, Ante Marinović, a sculptor, Gorki Žuvela, a conceptual artist and well-known singers Oliver Dragojević and Jasna Zlokić.

The Cultural Centre is located in the town centre, next to the parish church of St. Joseph, and it consists of a museum, a gallery and a library, and the wealth and diversity of Vela Luka’s history, art and cultural heritage is shown through several valuable museum collections; the archaeological collection, the gifted international collection of drawings, graphics and small sculptures and the collection of ship models carved in wood.

Just like in other parts of Dalmatia and along the coast, the life in small towns is characterized by two periods, the summer and the winter period. The winter season is characterized by a calm and relaxed rhythm, and its highlight is in January, the time of a carnival or "maškare".

During the summer months, the rich entertaining programme enables all visitors of Vela Luka to enjoy the weekly performances of the folk group «Kumpanija», vocal singing, exhibits of local and other artists, fishermen evenings, and various concerts of pop and classical music.
The autochthonous Dalmatian song still lives and maybe represents the spirit of the people of Vela Luka better than anything else when performed by several local choirs such as Vela Luka, Ošjak, Leut and others,

but it is even nicer when few of the oldest inhabitants of Vela Luka meet spontaneously on a street corner or in a park and one of them starts a song from the depth of his soul “just like in the old days”, and the others sing along bringing pleasure to everyone

On St. John’s day, and is celebrated by a traditional boat race from Gradina cove to the town centre.

Rich gastronomic offer of Vela Luka is based on numerous quality restaurants and inns offering local specialties and other dishes. Most of them are in the town centre, and in the wider area of Vela Luka there are several households offering authentic Dalmatian ambiance, traditional cuisine of Vela Luka, domestic wine and more.

The rowing across the Adriatic VELA LUKA - VIESTE 2000

	The five courageous rowers from Vela Luka, Anito Šeparović, Nikša Prizmić, Tino Dragojević,Tonko Gugić and Edi Žuvela,altough much difficult than they supposed, they sailed by 7 m long skiff "Štropada"across the Adriatic from Vela Luka to Vieste in Italy.

The route of 80 nautical miles, they crossed for 20 hours continually rowing.