A day trip to Mljet National Park

On Monday morning, we got up really early again as we had to get to the Marina to get the 9.00 a.m. ferry to the island of Mljet.

Mljet is about an hour and a half by boat from Dubrovnik, with the entire Western side of the Island being a National Park known for its stunning lakes.

We stopped on the way and picked up some picnic supplies, since there isn't much around once you get inside the park.

Weird Peanut flavoured crisps

Once off the boat in Mljet, we got into a mini bus which transports people from the boat to the park, the ride took about 10 minutes.

Included in the price of the ticket for the National Park, is a boat ride which takes you to the tiny St Mary's Isle in the middle of Veliko Jezero, which is the largest of the two salt water lakes in the park. The main feature of the island is the Benedictine Monastery, and you can walk around the entire Isle in about 10 minutes.

The Monastery

The amazing views over Veliko Jezero

Tiny Mausoleum

We wandered round the lake for a while, before settling on a place to stop and have a swim. The water was pretty cold, but it was so hot that we pretty mich dived right in. The lake got quite deep quickly, so I stayed closer to shore, while Bradley swam right to the other side of the lake and back. 

There were lots of fish and tiny prawns swimming in the Lake, they kept nibbling on our feet and giving us a fright.

After cooling off in Veliko Jazero, we had some lunch, and headed off in the direction of the smaller lake, Malo Jazero. The smaller lake is known for being much warmer than the larger lake, and the locals are able to swim in Malo Jazero long after the sea is too cold.

Malo Jazero was a lot busier than Veliko Jazero, there were lots of families and people scattered right round the lake. It did seem warmer than the other lake, but not by too much, and there was a lot of seaweed, so we swam here for a while, and then headed back to Veliko Jazero before heading back to the town of Polace to get our ferry back to Dubrovnik.

We arrived back in Polace in time to have a cold Croatian Beer and something to eat. We were also able to explore a little of the tiny town. There was hardly anyone around, it was so quiet and peaceful. It would be lovely to stay there for a few days, but you'd be really limited in getting around, as there is only one ferry a day.

We arrived back in Dubrovnik in the early evening and had a wander around before heading out to dinner. We were pretty shattered, and I think we ended up in bed before 10.00 p.m.

We had another early start ahead of us the next day, we weren't looking forward to the 5 hour bus ride, plus one hour ferry to get the the Island of Hvar, where we were spending the next 4 days of our trip.

Watching the sunset on our way back to our apartment