Day 4 of our Croatia trip was still spent in Dubrovnik, but was a free day with no scheduled group activities. Josh and I decided to use our day to visit Lokrum Island, which is just off the coast of Old Town Dubrovnik. The island is a nature preserve, as well as the site of a former monastery and fort. I was very excited to get a chance to finally do some botanizing and to get out and hike a little in nature instead of just cities. We spent the majority of the day there and it ended up being my favorite thing we did on this trip.
Getting to Lokrum Island
Dubrovnik has a very easy to use public bus system. Our hotel actually had its own stop, which made it especially easy for us. Our hotel was the end of the line and we rode to the other end- Pile Gate at Old Town. From the Pile Gate stop, we could either walk through or around Old Town to the harbor on the Ploče Gate side. We chose to walk through just for the fun of it. At the harbor we found the Lokrum Island booth, which is set into the wall. There are many booths selling all kinds of different boat tours, some of which include Lokrum Island. But we kept things simple with the official Lokrum ferry. 27 euros each got us our ferry & island entry tickets all in one. There are two ferry boats that run every half hour, so it was never a long wait to come or go from the island.
Fort Royal
We started off our visit with a quick pop in at the visitor center for a map and then a hike up to Fort Royal. Our hike took us along the “Path of Paradise” and through some of the natural areas. The fort was built under French rule in the early 1800s and completed during Austrian rule in 1835. The fort was last used during the war in the 1990s. We were able to go into the fort and then climb up to the top for amazing views of the island and Dubrovnik.
Lokrum Island Botanic Garden
The botanic garden on Lokrum Island is part of the University of Dubrovnik’s Institute for Marine and Coastal Research. The garden was started in 1959 to study the adaptation of plants to the region. During the war in the ’90s, the botanic garden was hit with 50 projectiles and much of it had to be restored. Most of the documentation from the early garden was also destroyed during the war.
We especially appreciated seeing plants native to our home in Illinois on display as exotic specimens there. The fourth picture in this gallery is a dense blazing star, which grew in our backyard when we were park caretakers.
Lazaret Complex
One of the interesting areas of the island is the Lazaret complex, which was an early quarantine area. The Lazaret was built 1534-1557 and featured double walls around a square layout. There would have been lodges built inside the complex and sailors and travelers would quarantine there before entering the city. The project was never finished though, and a different quarantine complex on the mainland was started instead.
Lokrum Island Monastery Complex
Probably the most iconic structure of Lokrum Island is the monastery complex. The island used to belong to Benedictine monks who lived on the island in the monastery as early as the 10th century. The most enduring story from Lokrum’s monks is the curse they placed on the island when forced to leave in the 19th century. The story goes, the night before leaving the island, the monks gathered together one last time. They turned their lit candles upside down and chanted a curse on anyone who would inhabit the island for their own pleasure.
Part of the monastery complex today is the former home of one who did try to inhabit the island- Maximilian I, who had a summer home on the island in the 1860s.
The monastery is also home to museum exhibits- upstairs is an exhibit on Game of Thrones and downstairs there is an exhibit on the history of the island, including the legend of Richard the Lion Heart’s visit.
Lokrum Island Geology
Lokrum Island is made up of limestone and dolomite rocks. The two end photos below are the area called “The Rocks” that showcase the geology of the island. The sediments that formed these rocks were deposited during the Cretaceous period. The center photo shows Lokrum’s “dead sea”. This was created when an erosional depression was filled, and it’s connected to the sea by an underwater passage.
Lokrum Island Miscellany
There are lots of other smaller sights to see around Lokrum Island. Everywhere you look there is something interesting to see here.
We also got lunch on the island from the snack bar, but there are several sit down restaurants as well.
One of our fascinations on the island was the fire management, since we both used to be on a prescribed burn team. Along most of the paths they had hoses laid along the trails, which isn’t a normal practice here. We saw some of the water reservoirs along the way too. The island has its own fire brigade, and the day we were there we saw them all out with a camera crew of some sort.
The cross below is the Triton Cross. which honors sailors who died on the Austrian war ship Triton when it exploded in the mid-1800s.
The other photo below is the outdoor classroom space we passed. We love outdoor classrooms and this is such a good one!
Lokrum Island is also really popular for its beaches, and there are multiple all around the island. You can tell that a lot of people come here just for swimming.
Flora of Lokrum Island
I was so excited to have free time to get out into nature and do some botanizing. As always, I recorded my observations on inaturalist and a nice Croatian inat-er confirmed IDs on a bunch of them for me. Here’s a sampling of plants we saw:
Stinking Madder (Plocama calabrica)Considered a rare plant
Oh and shout out to the fauna of Lokrum too, we were super excited to see this lacerta in the wild!
Leaving Lokrum
We left Lokrum island from the ferry and had a great view of the island and Dubrovnik on the way back. Before catching our bus at Pile Gate, we of course stopped for a gelato too!
Croatia Trip Overview
Croatia Trip Days 1 & 2: Planes, Busses, and Sleep Deprivation
Croatia Trip Day 3: Old Town Dubrovnik, Cavtat, Wine Tasting, Mills, and More!
Croatia Trip Day 4: Lokrum Island
Croatia Trip Day 5: A Long Bus Ride, a Visit to Split, and History was Made
Croatia Trip Day 6: Krka Falls, Zadar, and our First Concert
Croatia Trip Days 7 & 8: Pools, Wine, Salt, and Football
Croatia Trip Days 9 & 10: Pula, Rovinj, and Zagreb
Croatia Trip Day 11: Zagreb Botanical Garden
Croatia Trip Days 12 & 13: Tamburica Festival & Nikola Tesla Technical Museum
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