Framedlight

The second day of our holiday we had intended to spend on the island nature reserve of Mljet. However the ferries had stopped doing day trips and it was not going to be possible to get back. So we changed our plans and thought we might go to Lockrum, a small island only 10 minutes ferry drive from the Old Port in Dubrovnik. We caught the bus to the Pile Gate of the old town, stopping to admire the view of the fort and city walls from outside the gate. Once in the city we stopped at a couple of churches to look at the interiors. First St Saviours where a tour guide was entertaining his customers with a recital on the piano, and then the church attached to the Franciscan Monastery, which was a very grand affair with a relief of the Pieta over the front door. We continued our walk down the Stadun to Luza Square at the far end, taking in the views down the side streets. In the square, by the Rector's Palace with it's elaborately carved capi...

A short boat trip from Dubrovnik lands you at a small jetty on the island of Lokrum. The boat was packed and there had been trips going all morning but the island seemed large enough to accommodate everyone without any crowds. Lokrum has an interesting history. The Benedictines established a monastery here in 1023 and legend has it that Richard the Lionheart came ashore when his boat was wrecked, returning from the crusades in 1192. Richard wanted to donate a church to the island for the hospitality he had received but was implored to build the church on the mainland instead, and so Richard is rumoured to have funded the first cathedral in Dubrovnik. The island was later owned by the wife of Archduke Ferdinand of Hapsburg who had a mansion and gardens built here in 1859. Maximilian was executed after he had become the Emperor of Mexico and his wife became insane. The mansion has now all but disappeared but some of the gardens remain and a botanical garden was established here in 1959....