Lokrum is a small, densely forested island sitting just 600 metres off the Dubrovnik waterfront, close enough to see from the Old Town's walls yet utterly removed from the crowds that pack the city itself. The island has been inhabited and fought over for centuries — Benedictine monks established a monastery here in 1023, and the ruins of that complex, including a lovely cloister now occupied by peacocks that roam completely freely, remain one of the island's most memorable sights. Richard the Lionheart allegedly shipwrecked nearby on his return from the Third Crusade, and Archduke Maximilian of Habsburg transformed the monastery into a summer residence in the 1850s before his ill-fated departure to become Emperor of Mexico. The island was declared a nature reserve in 1976, and no one is permitted to stay overnight — a rule that lends Lokrum a peculiar, almost enchanted quality as the last ferry departs each evening.
Other