Lokrum Island

After the tour fiasco, I decided to go with Plan B – Lokrum Island. This little island sits right off the coast of Dubrovnik, and is a stone’s throw from the Old Town (only a 15 minute ferry ride). I joined the throngs of other tourists headed to the island for the day, and arrived at about noon. I expected the island to be swarming with people like in the Old Town, but it actually turned out to be a serene oasis from the crowds of the city. The island is a national park, and the only buildings on it are a restaurant, an old monastery, and ruined fort. It’s also pedestrian only so there are no motor vehicles. I didn’t quite know what to expect, so I decided to just wander until I came to one of the beaches marked on the map that was I noticed on the back of my ferry ticket.

I ended up wandering to a fenced off area that they called a Botanical Garden, and I love love love botanical gardens so I decided to check it out. Really, it was just an overgrown part of the island that looked like the rest of it but the neat thing was that there was a flock of peacocks roaming around who were not at all afraid of humans. There were probably about 10 of them, some males with the beautiful blue feathers, some females with less impressive brown feathers, and three or four little baby peacocks following one of the females. After doing a lap around the garden, I headed on a path that took me along the border of eastern part of the island. The path was up on a cliff, so to get to the beaches you had to climb down remote access paths that led you down to the water. The beaches aren’t really beaches at all, but rocky access points that you can swim in if you dare (I was afraid I would be crushed against the rocks so I didn’t get in the water).

After snapping a few pictures, I continued on the main path and had some of the most beautiful views of my time abroad. I was a few hundred feet above the bright blue water, and it was a gorgeous day without a cloud in the sky. About an hour into my walk I headed inland and upward, and eventually made it to the fort at the top the highest point of the island. Atop the fort was a “security guard”, who got paid to sit in a beach lounger under an umbrella and keep snooze the afternoon away. I managed to find an abandoned chair in a secluded area atop the island, and spent the afternoon reading under the sun.

Later in the day I could see a storm coming in, so I decided I would have to come back and check out the other side of the island on another day. I found my way back to the port to catch the ferry to Dubrovnik, and made it back before the threatening clouds released any rain.