Lokrum Island

July 27, 2011 Dubrovnik
Today, we packed a picnic lunch and took the taxi boat out to Lokrum Island, about 10 or 15 minutes across the water from the old town pier. We had planned to just tour around the old monastery on the island and then lounge at the beach but naturally, when we got there, we hiked up the hill to old Fort Royal, the highest point.
It was a little warm but luckily it’s only 25 and totally clear here today so it’s beautiful weather and not unbearably hot. In fact we haven’t faced any unbearably hot weather yet this summer.
The fort needs some restoration but the view was great. We got another tourist to take a picture of us. There were a couple of cruise ships in the bay below us. They drop off passengers at the other end of the city and then apparently just anchor in the bay to wait for them. The cruise ship pier can only accommodate a couple of ships at a time. Yesterday, we learned that sometimes 7 cruise ships per day unload passengers in Dubrovnik. That’s why from about 10:30am to 4:30pm or so can be very busy in the old town. Then it quietens down a bit when they all get on their buses and head back to the dock.
Lokrum Island is very lush and beautiful. The monastery and fort need some restoration but there is an olive grove, a beautiful botanical garden, lots of trees and lots of places to swim. It’s apparently a favourite spot for the locals to easily get out of town and enjoy the park and sea.
We eventually meandered down to spend a couple of hours on the beach (that is, rocks). We swam in the sea, which is beautiful and clean, relaxed in the sun, ate our picnic lunch and celebrated my 60th birthday with a beer and wine. Just what I always wanted.
Around 2:30 we went back to the dock and caught the taxi boat home. It only costs about $10 each for the return trip. We picked up some lunch supplies for our 10 hours on the ship tomorrow back to Split.
Tonight we’re going back to “Mea Culpa”, a great pizza and pasta place, for my birthday dinner. Celebrating a birthday in Dubrovnik with my sweetie is pretty nice.