Lokrum Island

After climbing down the stairs from the wall in Dubrovnik, we walked to Old Town’s pier and caught a boat ride to Lokrum Island.

The currency in Dubrovnik is the kuna with an exchange rate of about 7 to one Euro. I needed 80 kuna for the boat trip, but only had 75 left. I didn’t want to have to pay another visit to the exchange office, so I managed to talk to guy into taking what I had plus one Euro. It was a fine deal for him, but he begrudgingly accepted. Our boat ride was a short distance and only took about 10 minutes.

It was a pretty view and the water was beautiful!

We sat next to an elderly couple and were cracking up listening to them bicker.

We saw this cool ship leaving the port and the husband kept telling the wife when to snap a picture of it. She finally turned to him and said, "Why are you so fixated on that boat? Who are you, Captain Hook?"

Lokrum Island is a natural reserve with no inhabitants.

There were people swimming and sunbathing or eating at the two cafes on the island.

It was very peaceful there, mainly because it was so quiet without any noise from the city.

We took off walking around the island to explore and within the first few minutes ran across a group of wild peacocks!

Our explorations led us to a former monastery and an old church.

Then we hiked all the way up to the top of the large hill in the center of the island where an old fort is located. I had to stop and catch my breath a few times because the climb was pretty steep and it was very hot that day.

The fort was empty, but there were a few places to walk through and a staircase that led to the top of it where we were graced with a great view of Dubrovnik and the surrounding mountains.

There was one employee sitting on the very top of the fort with an umbrella just talking on the phone, probably what he does all day.