Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Bridge at the right time of day). Scientists love these lakes, which contain various shellfish
species unique to Mljet.
The Island
ThemainactivityintheparkistakingaboatouttotheGreatLake'slittleisland-in-an-island
(boats depart about hourly from the Small Bridge and from Pristanište). The tiny island's
main landmark isSt.Mary'sChurch (Sv.Marija) andthe attached monastery,left behind by
Benedictine monks who lived on Mljet starting in the 12th century. Though the monastery
complex has been modified over the ages, fragments of the original Romanesque structure
still survive. You can hike the easy trail up to the top of the island, passing remains of for-
tifications and old chapels, and look for the island's only permanent residents: a handful of
goats, donkeys, and chickens. You'll have about an hour to explore, but it only takes half
that to see everything—then relax with an overpriced drink at the restaurant by the boat
dock.
The Tales of Mljet
For a mostly undeveloped island, Mljet has had a surprisingly busy history. Home to
Illyrians, Greeks, Romans, Slavs, Venetians, Habsburgs, Yugoslavs, and now Croa-
tians, the island has hosted some interesting visitors (or supposed visitors) that it
loves to brag about.
Around the eighth century
B.C.
, the Greek epic poet Homer possibly spent time
here. He was so inspired by Mljet that he used it as the setting for one of the ad-
ventures of his hero Ulysses (a.k.a. Odysseus). This is the island where Ulysses fell
in love with a beautiful nymph named Calypso and shacked up with her in a cave
for seven years. Today there's a much-vaunted “Ulysses' Cave” (Odisejeva Spilja),
a 40-minute hike below the island's main town, Babino Polje (at the far end of the
island—skip it unless you're a Ulysses groupie).
Flash forward nearly a millennium, when a real-life traveler found his way to
Mljet. According to the Bible (Acts 28), the Apostle Paul was shipwrecked on an is-
land called “Melita”—likely this one—for three months. While on the island, Paul
was bitten by a deadly snake, which he threw into a fire. The natives were amazed
that he wasn't affected by the poison, and he proceeded to cure their ailments. This
event was long believed to have happened on the similarly named isle of Malta, in
the Mediterranean Sea. But more recently, many historians began to believe that Paul
was on Mljet. The most convincing argument: Malta never had poisonous snakes. In-
cidentally, Mljet no longer does, either—the Habsburgs imported an army of Indian
