Island of Lokrum

Ferry ride to Lokrum
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On our last day we thought we'd have a relaxing day and didn't leave our hotel till 2.30pm! We caught the shuttle into Dubrovnik and had another great ice cream before catching the ferry over to Lokrum. Lokrum's a small island just off the coast of Dubrovnik, about 15mins by ferry. Richard the Lion Heart was shipwrecked there in 1192 on his way home from the Crusades.

The first thing we went to see was the monastery complex, which contained a monastery, cloister garden and supposedly the summer residence of Maximilian of Habsburg. The Benedictine Monastery was similar to the other ones we have seen, but interestingly enough had people living in it, not monks just ordinary people. We worked out the summer palace must have been the pile of ruins attached to the monastery that looked like it might be about to be restored. After following the map to some rocks (interesting...) we headed up to the fortress, which was the best part of the island. Fort Royal was situated at the top of the small hill on the island. Like a lot of the places in Croaita you can climb all over it, which is great. The view from the top of the fortress was beautiful; on one side you could see Dubrovnik and the other side the monastery and out to the sparkling blue seas. After the insanely hot climb up to the fortress we needed a swim so headed down to Mrtvo more (The Dead Sea). The Dead Sea is a small lake linked to the sea under the rocks, great for swimming. It was then time to catch the ferry back to Dubrovnik for the best pizza in town.