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The
name Tri Porte is a joint name for three bays situated 7 km southwest
from Vela Luka, and they are some of the most beautiful bays in
the aquatorium of Vela Luka. From the surrounding hills that are
covered with pine forest you can enjoy a beautiful view over the
archipelago of the canal of Korcula. The crystal clean sea, the
magnificent underwater world, shades of pine trees and the hospitality
of the hosts are surely the reasons way the bays of Tri Porte are
a popular site to visit. The church of St. Peter is situated on
a mild slope, not far away from the seacoast. It is one of the fewthat
who has a parch on the facade. The church is supposed to be built
by a fisherman in 1666, who used the bay for its own shelter. The
church of St. Jurja is situated on a hill close to the Tri Porte
bay. There is a small bell-tower built in front of the church and
for the altar hall a Roman marble sarcophagi was used that was probably
found in the surrounding area.
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The
Evergreen, Holm, or Holly Oak is a tree that puzzles many folk at
first sight, For it looks much like an enormous holly tree. A closer
view, however, will show that its leaves, though evergreen, leathery,
and dark in hue above, are white and hairy, not green and smooth,
beneath; they are never prickly, though sometimes their edges are
toothed; and the twigs are downy. The bark too differs, being black
on young trunks, and dark grey, shallowly patterned into small squares,
on older ones, whereas holly bark is always smooth and pale grey.
The dark brown acorns, of course, reveal the helm oaks true relationship.
They are borne in long, hard cups, and are themselves remarkably
long and narrow, tapering to a point; they ripen in their first
year. The flowers resemble those of the common oak, but the male
catkins are greenish-white and rather short-stalked.
The evergreen oak is a characteristic tree of the macchi, or evergreen
scrub of the Mediterranean countries, but it is quite hardy in the
south and west of Britain. Slow growing, and rather tricky to transplant,
it is used sometimes for ornament but mainly as a shelter tree;
it stands up very well to strong sea winds. Each leaf endures two
years, and there is a heavy fall of tough, brown, leathery leaves
in May and June. Seedlings occasionally spring up spontaneously.
The sapwood is white, and the heartwood dark brown, very hard, strong,
heavy and durable. The timber is valued in its homeland, but too
little grows here for it to be marketed.
Taken
from British Trees by Edlin.
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