Lokrum

As this is our last day in Dubrovnik, and we have yet to go swimming, or enjoy any of the beaches in this beautiful coastal city, we decided it was time to set off for Lokrum. Lokrum is a small nature preserve island off the coast of Dubrovnik. For about 40 Kuna and 30 minutes, you can take a ferry ride to the shores of the island, and then explore to your heart’s content.

The island holds the remnants of a fort, a monastery, and botanical gardens. It also has an inordinate amount of peacocks strutting around and cawing at each other. It is a beautiful place.

We hiked up through the botanical gardens to the top of the old fortress – where the park ranger had a folding chair and umbrella set on the very top of the fort – presumably to give himself the best rangering vantage point. We wandered around for some time until the afternoon was finally so hot that we had to find a beach and jump into the water. And what beaches we found. The island does not have true sand beaches, but is made up of flat white and grey rocks, on which you can camp out and sunbathe and then run to the water and jump into the super salty water and just tread water – watching the fish swim just beneath your fingers and feet.

We decided to have lunch and picnicked beneath the olive trees in the old olive groves, eating pears, bread and a super stinky Gorgonzola cheese. It was heavenly.

I would recommend a visit to Lokrum to everyone that heads to Dubrovnik, it was well worth it, and I wish we had gone a couple of times during our stay – but maybe next time!

We caught the last ferry back to Dubrovnik mainland and headed home to eat some leftovers with enough time for us to go out and watch Croatia vs. Turkey in the last round of the quarter finals of the Euro Cup.

We watched the game from the second smokiest bar in the world (Don’s / William’s are still tied for 1st) Roxies, and watched with bated breath as the Croatia fans would raise their arms, sure that this was the one, the score, the goal – only to be disappointed. All in all, it was a good, and evenly matched game, coming down to the last shoot out kicks, but Croatia couldn’t pull it off…no fire extinguisher celebration tonight!