Our boat sailed off as lunch was served. After our wonderful morning trip to the two beautiful islands of Kolocep and Sipan and some real Travel fun in Elaphiti Islands..our next destination, Lopud Island.

Second in size and best known for its sandy beaches, Lopud is located between Sipan and Kolocep islands. It’s well developed in terms of tourism infrastructure and is economically the most developed of the three islands. It is famous as the “island in the middle” and has seven miles of coastline, of which one mile is sandy.

Sunj beach is certainly the best beach in the Elafiti Islands. It’s composed of fine, white sand which is extremely rare in Croatia. The lush green hills as the backdrop makes it even more exciting for tourists and residents of Dubrovnik. Naturally it gets busy during the summer months, when Adriatic is at it’s best. It was a short ride and we reached quickly.

Lopud has been inhabited since ages starting as early as the seventh century. In the fifteenth century, refugees from the Turks flowed onto the island and the island grew rapidly from then to the seventeenth century when around fourteen thousand people started living here including sailors, sea captains and shipowners. At one time it’s ships comprised a quarter of the Dubrovnik navy and were a part of a number of important expeditions.

The island had two monasteries, thirty churches and a number of noble palaces. Like the rest of Dubrovnik, it was wrecked in the earthquake of 1667 and was never again able to attain its former glory. Now the island has around two hundred and fifty inhabitants only.

As we alighted from our boat on to Lopud harbor, the first piece of history that attracted our attention was the Franciscan monastery. Founded in 1458 for the purpose of cultural development & education and abandoned under the French occupation of 1808, it has been opened to public in 2018 after twenty years of restoration work. It now serves as an art gallery and displays a massive collection of Renaissance art and furniture from Germany, Italy and the Balkans. You should not miss the attached tranquil gardens designed for meditation. The monastery also serves as a private B&B available for rental. It certainly is a place where history, art, and botanical exploration would ignite your senses. Let’s explore more.

As we walk let me share with you a bit more about Elaphitus. Apart from the three inhabited islands that we are visiting, there are ten other uninhabited islets. They are Crkvina, Golec, Kosmec, Misnjak, Ruda, Tajan and Daksa where there are no activities.

Daksa used to be home to a thirteenth century Franciscan monastery of Saint Sabina, which was abandoned at the time of Napoleon’s conquest in the early 19th century. Later it became infamous as the site of the Daksa massacre, in which forty eight prominent citizens of Dubrovnik were executed in October 1944. The other islets – Jakljan has a children’s rest and recreation center, Olipa has a lighthouse and Sveti Andrija, a rocky island with a rich fauna has the status of a bird reserve. The island also has a lighthouse which was built in 1873.

We are now near the Botanical Garden. Those of you who love nature would surely have a great time with us as we venture in.

We looked at our watch. We still had some free time. And what better place to head to than another sandy beach which we were now close to.

As we settled down on the upper deck again, it was now the turn of the crew to welcome us back. With a surprise parting shot of Rakija. Come let’s enjoy the views as we head back towards Dubrovnik.

Dubrovnik. A truly marvelous holiday destination.

Come over to Dubrovnik. Get lost and discover yourself 👻

Hope you enjoyed being at Lopud. PIN it for later reference