After a nap and then another 8 hours of sleep, we were ready to get off the boat and stretch our legs a bit. A trip to the Old City was the perfect opportunity. We found out how to take the bus (much cheaper than a taxi) on Sunday morning to have a look around. If you’ve ever watched Game of Thrones (We have never seen it, but now we have to), you may be familiar with this place. We “walked the wall” (the perimeter around the Old City) and the views were magnificent.
Many of these buildings date back to the 12th century and it’s mind-boggling to imagine how they could have carried the stones and canons to such heights! While in the Old City, we also walked through a small museum with pictures of the damage from what the Croats call the “Greater-Serbian Aggression”, or Croatian War of Independence, in 91/92. Although the tensions have certainly died down, we’re told there are still enclaves of underlying conflict… good thing we weren’t wearing a Nikola Jokić Nuggets Jersey (he’s from Serbia).
Once we had cleaned the boat and Anthony did the laundry (hey – I was working…), we left Marina Frapa and headed northwest towards Lopud and anchored at Sunji Beech. There were limited facilities there – just 1 bar, a quiet beach, and the sound of birds…. After a long passage, and 3 busy days in Dubrovnik, it was perfect!
From Lopud, we moved to the island of Mljet and anchored on the western side of the north coast in Polaće near the Mljet National Park. The waterfront in Polaće is home to the ruins of an ancient Roman Palace built in the 5th century. We paid our nightly mooring fee online and the Park authorities came by to check. You’re supposed to pay for each night’s stay, but he told us to stay as long as we liked!
The next day we toured the National Park on bikes so we could see more of it. We rode around the “Large Lake” and had to maneuver the bikes over two bridges to cross the inlet to the get to the other side.
At least there was a small aluminum track to put the wheels into, but it still took some effort.
Once around the lake, we biked a little further and then took a ferry ride to a Melita (Sveta Marija), a small island in the middle of Large Lake, which is home to a former Benedictine monastery, dating back to the 12th century. There’s a restaurant onsite (lower right side of the picture) so we had some food and drink and rested a bit before the ride back to the boat.
Mljet National Park was beautiful, but there are 988+ islands still to see – next stop Korćula.
These places are absolutely stunning! I am enjoying traveling on your shoulder, like a little invisible fairy! You two are so entertaining. I can’t wait to read more. Wishing you the perfect winds, XOXO Susan
Really enjoying tracking the adventure and learning more about Croatia – what a beautiful part of the world. Interesting side note – I happened to notice a familiar vessel name, Bravo Eugenia, on the Vesselfinder site. That is the yacht that Jerry Jones (Cowboys owner) built for his wife 3 years ago, and it has been crossing paths with you guys off/on the last couple of weeks!
We’ll keep an eye out for Bravo Eugenia! 😉
Enjoyed getting caught up with the adventure! The old town of Dubrovnik was one of our favorite spots when we visited – beautiful! Wishing you safe passage and perfect winds!
Croatia has been awesome! Now we’re getting ready to make the long slog back to France… We’ll take any prayers for good wind.