tip Travel magazine Croatia 030 (English edition) 06/2023 - 05/2024

Page 20

MLJET ISLAND

© Miro Andrić / Mljet Tourist Board

Active vacation

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Created for adventure Just like the nymph Calypso captured Odysseus in a cave on Mljet, the island of Mljet will enrapture you with its beauty. Explore it actively. ................................

1 Prožurska Luka is a favorite spot for sailors; 2 The view from the peak of Montokuc towards Soline in the morning; 3 St. Mary's Island in Great Lake; 4 Divers at an amphora site.

After exploring Mljet's underwater world, famous oceanographer, explorer of the seas, and director, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, concluded that it is one of the prettiest diving destinations in the world.

©M iro An

drić / Mljet Tourist Board 4

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tipTravelMagazine June 2023 - May 2024

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ccording to the best-known legend of the island, the one about Odysseus and Calypso, "...it was the most beautiful island of all seas and oceans...". You can judge for yourself whether it is truly the prettiest, but Mljet is definitely the greenest and most forested Croatian island. Most of the island is part of a national park, and the most famous part of the park are two natural phenomena - salt lakes, the Great Lake and Small Lake, connected with a shallow, narrow channel through which seawater flows during high and low tides. As if there wasn't enough beauty, there is another pearl immersed in the calm, southern part of Great Lake - the island of St. Mary, with a church and Benedictine monastery from the 12th century, which is the best-known motif of Mljet. The island's rugged coastline with its many turquoise coves and divine beaches, reachable peaks, and fairytale landscapes are reason enough to spend your holiday on Mljet actively. Walking and hiking will take you through the untouched nature of the island, next to many attractions, and all the way to

Text: Željka Kunštek

© Unimedia Dea Botica/ /Mljet TZ Grada Tourist Korčule Board

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© Boris Jović / Mljet Tourist Board

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viewpoints that offer a view of the park, island, and surrounding archipelago. Veliki Grad, above Babino Polje, is the tallest peak of the island (514 m), and both Montokuc and Grabova Glava are known as attractive viewpoints. The many island peaks are connected by the 43 km-long Mljet hiking trail, and an especially interesting part is the one that leads from Sobra to Pomena. In the heart of the island, in the lowlands of Babino Polje, thematic trails of olives, sacral treasure, natural springs, and stone walls, the art of which is inscribed on UNESCO's list, meander. If you head down the Olive Trail, which connects the towns of Babino Polje and Maranovići, you will pass through olive groves with a view of the coastline and the open sea. The trail will take you to Odysseus' cave and the Duke's palace (Knežev dvor) with an ethno collection, next to chapels and churches (including the church of St. Blaise that dates back to the time of the Republic of Dubrovnik), old stone walls, beautiful coves, and medicinal herbs. Take the old Austrian Road, which is now an educational trail, above the town of Sobra and beneath Prožura... The trails are also great for riding a mountain bike, while it's better to choose the island's paved trails for family panorama rides. Bikes can be rented at several locations on the »


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tip Travel magazine Croatia 030 (English edition) 06/2023 - 05/2024 by tipTravel magazine - Issuu