2/8 Day 2: Boat to Lokrum island. Was on the island from 10.15am to 2.45pm. Hiked up Mount Srd to see the sunset.
Costs
(1) Return boat ticket and entry ticket to nature reserve on Lokrum island EUR30
(2) Bus ticket to town - EUR2,50
(3) Uber back to accommodation from town - Shared EUR9,90
Food
(1) Breakfast at Arka cafe - Poached egg EUR10, cappucino EUR5
(2) Fruit from the morning market - Peach and apricot shared EUR9
(3) Ice-cream at Caffe Bar Lacroma on Lokrum island - 1 scoop EUR3
(4) Coffee break before dinner at Restoran Lajk - Cappucino EUR7
(5) Dinner at Heritage of Dubrovnik - Fish fillet EUR29, shared cheese plate EUR20, peach juice 200ml EUR6
(6) Gelato 1 scoop EUR2,50
The Story
02082025: Woke up to a blue sky and a clear view of the waters.
The morning started with a bus ride to town. There is a picture of the bus route at the bus stop. Our accommodation is very near a bus stop (Nuncijata 1), although the walk uphill was tiring. It is a steep hill despite being a very short distance. The sun was already high up in the sky. Scorching hot.
We bought the bus ticket from the bus driver. It is cheaper if one buys from a kiosk or their app. A very short ride of 20 minutes on bus 3A brought us into town. Initially, we wanted to walk but our hostess talked us out of it as it is a long walk with all the steps. We did walk on our last day at Dubrovnik and it was not difficult but it was a good idea with the bus due to the heat.
Within the wall is the Old Town. Even the lamps have the characteristics of olden days. We did a guided walking tour and the guide told us that the lamps were purposely chosen for that feature so that the Old Town gives that old town vibe and nothing modern. The roads are very smooth and I thought it will be slippery during winter. Then, I was informed by the guide that there is no snow during winter, so I guess no ice. It just gets really cold to 5 degrees.
The breakfast place is located next to a wide staircase. I saw many tourists taking photos there and I did not understand the reason. I did a quick search and found that it was a film location for Game of Thrones. So, I took a tourist photo too with a coffee in my hand. My sitting pose reminded me of my trip to Macau where I sat on the stairs against the background of St Paul's ruins. Historically, this is the Jesuit Stairs, a Baroque staircase that leads from Gundulić Square to the Church of St. Ignatius.
The morning market was opened when we finished our breakfast. We bought peaches and apricots to have on Lokrum island. The peaches were so huge!
Then, we headed towards the harbor. It was very easy to find the ticket office to buy the boat tickets. It is really expensive at EUR30! The price includes entry tickets to the nature reserve. There is a voucher pass for 10 tickets that costs EUR110. Well, I could have asked 7 other tourists and we could have gotten the price of EUR11 per person. What a huge difference! There were many boat operators who offered private boat tours to other islands.
We took the 10am boat.
Really hot by now. I am glad I got a wide-brimmed sunhat with me. The boat we are taking is behind me - Skala. The waters here are very clear eventhough there are many boats at the harbour. I could see fishes swimming.
The boat filled up very quickly. We departed at 10am and arrived on Lokrum island at 10.15am.
Some points of interest worth seeing on the island.
The island is clean. There are many spots that one can take a dip in the waters. There are even steel ladders drilled into rocks so that one can go inside the waters safely. Good thing that they did something considering we paid EUR30.
The aim was to walk around the island and visit the designated places as shown on the signboards. Trails are relatively easy and safe to walk on.
Common sights to see kayakers on the open sea. I am not a fan of kayaking. Either my legs go tingly from sitting too long or I cannot seem to paddle forward.
It is scary just by standing at the edge of the cliff.
Many peacocks, peahen and peachicks in the nature reserve. The reason why there are so many families of peacocks - they were brought over by Archduke Maximilian Ferdinand of Habsburg from the Canary Islands. Maximilian was a commander-in-chief of the small Imperial Austrian Navy. The island was originally purchased by Maximilian's wife Charlotte of Mexico, with part of her marriage dowry. Source from Wikipedia.
Entered the Botanical Garden. Not very exciting plants. Saw a giant aloe vera or something similar to an aloe vera plant.
Then, walked up a path called The Path of Paradise. Not at all. It was an ascending trail and the heat did not make it easier. Nothing paradise about the path.
There were lots of cicadas on the island that produced sound which got my travel companions curious to find the insect. They found many of those insects on the tree and were excited by their find.
Finally, we reached the end or the top of Path of Paradise greeted by Fort Royal.
Fort Royal is a military emplacement located on the highest peak of Lokrum overlooking Dubrovnik. Construction of this fortress began under the French Empire in 1806 and was completed in 1835 by Austria. Source by Wikipedia.
We continued our walk. Passed The Lazaret, Skalica (a spot by the waters where one can take a dip in the warm sea), the Cross of Triton. I did not take any photos. Final spot - the Gardens of Maximilian which we missed when we started. Almost like a labryinth but not.
Last dip in the warm waters before we took the 2.45pm ferry back and reached Dubrovnik at 3pm. Managed to buy a one-scoop gelato on the island too.
Back at Dubrovnik, I had a coffee and my companions had beer at Lajk restaurant. The most expensive beer too! EUR10 for a 500ml bottle. Usually, they get that for half the price. How terrible! And we paid in cash too. I guess the waiter did not cash in the money in the counter and kept for himself. So expensive cappucino too at EUR7. I read the reviews now for the restaurant and they are all bad reviews. We stopped here because we were so thirsty and tired and the staff invited us to sit as they have beer. Man, we should not have stopped and continued on because there were bars along the way with reasonable price!
We continued our way to our booked restaurant for dinner. Heritage of Dubrovnik. The place has good reviews. We were early so we did not actually need to book. We had an early dinner at 4pm as we were going up Mount Srd to catch the sunset.
First time seeing a bottle with two liquids inside. This one has vinegar and olive oil. This kind of bottle seems to be common in Croatia.
While finishing up our ice-cream, we made our way towards Mount Srd - to be continued in the next post, as this post is very long.
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