National Park Mljet
National Park Mljet is located on the western part of the island. Mljet was declared to be a national park in 1960. It covers approximately one third of the island, and it is situated in the territory of ‘’Crna klada’’ to ‘’Goli’’ cape. Mljet or popularly called a green island is very famous for his lush vegetation, whose forests cover more than 90% of the island. Like many Adriatic islands, Mljet has numerous bays, islets and islands. One of the particularities of this beautiful national park are its two lakes Big and Small Lake, which are connected to the sea by channels. This phenomenon is recognized around the world is one of the biggest reasons of why Mljet was declared to be a national park, of course, among all the other beauties.
Mljet lakes
Big Lake is connecting to the sea nearby
Soline, with a channel on the place called a great bridge. A large bridge was narrow in the past, which allowed easier entering of strong sea
currents. At this point the Benedictines
built a mill that was used for the
production of salt, so that is
the reason why nearby town got his name Soline. Great bridge was
demolished in 1958, so Josip Broz Tito could enter the
lake with his yacht.
Untouched
nature and perfectly clean air attracts tourist from all over the world as the
locals to spend a day picnic on Mljet. Considering that Mljet belongs to the
Dubrovnik archipelago, it is very easy to reach Mljet by one-hour boat ride
from main harbor in Gruž. Boat will take you to the settlement called Sobra,
but in season you can even take a hydrofoil which will take you to Polače,
where from you are taking a minibus that leads you straight to National park
Mljet. I believe it is a good recommendation for a tourist to take a bike and
go on a tour around the park, take a few good shoots for a lifetime memory.
Besides the lakes,
which we have mentioned earlier in text, we also need to write a
few things about the tiny islets
St. Mary, situated in the middle of
the Great Lake. You can see there
a Benedictine monastery, which dates from 12th century and if you want
to visit a small island, it is
possible with a small boat that rides straight to the St Mary
Island.
Mljet tourist places
Polace belongs to
the national park and is very well known because
of a great historical and cultural value in this area. Her Roman Palace
is the third best preserved monument of Roman culture in the Adriatic. In addition to the palace there are also early Christian basilica, which fit very nicely in the bay, protected by a strong winds.
The island
of Mljet was known in prehistoric times. Mentioned by Greek sailors in their writings,
and in 1st. century was inhabited by the Illyrians. Settling the
Mljet began most likely because of its large amounts of drinking water and its
beautiful and sheltered bay which is concealed by many small islands. Entire
area of Mljet was inhabited in past. A rich inheritance left by our ancestors,
build so remarkably, even now we can just admire to its perfectionism.
Mljet
is famous
for its legends:
Given that the island of Mljet has numerous caves which have great similarities to caves mentioned in the stories of Odysseus and Calypso’s meeting. At the entrance of the cave there is a rock caring a name Ogiranj, which represents a great danger to the sailors, especially during high tide, because it completely covers the sea. There is a strong possibility that Homer‘s Ogigija was from this place as Malta was mentioned in the story. For those who do not know, Mljet was called de Malta in ancient times.
The vineyards from the story of Odysseus are located just nearby the cave.
These are just
some of the natural and cultural beauties of National park Mljet. See our short video
clip, and experience this story through beautiful
images and understand why Mljet Croatians are proud to have
Mljet. For those who choose
to spend their holidays
in Dubrovnik, certainly suggest spending one day of holiday’s right here
on the island of Mljet.