Mljet - More than a National Park

Although I am a grown up person, still I refuse to stop believing in fairytales. I simply adore those stories with mystical beings blessed with happy endings; myths with romantic perspective of the past centuries and heroic personalities. All the things, persons and events an imagination can think of, seem to me like they do really exist, if not on this Earth, than in some parallel universe which can easily touch our time and places. I do live my life hoping to meet dwarfs, fairies, dragons, aliens, even monsters from all the stories I’ve read, and I still do read, even if it is to my children now.

I plan my vacations in accordance to my secret passion; each time I visit some other place, some place I believe those parallel universes touched or could touch; thus I vent to Stonehenge, Peru, Transylvania, China, Denmark, Cyprus and numerous places scattered around the world in never ending search for the invisible.

All of those places were up to my expectations and all of them had that something I looked for. But there is just one place I came back twice. The myth says that Odysseus, coming back home to Ithaca after ten years of war for Troy, got stuck on some island for another seven years. He was kept there by nymph Calypso, daughter of Poseidon, until Zeus ordered her to release her peeled captive. While the analysts of Greek mythology are still disputing about what island could be Calypso’s island, I don’t have any doubts. It is an island of Mljet, the second biggest south Dalmatian island in Croatia. It is also one of the Croatian National Parks, 24 nautical miles distanced from more famous tourist destination Dubrovnik.
Although it is one of the most distanced island from Croatian mainland, Mljet is not so hard to reach; there are few daily ferry lines from Split, island Korčula, peninsula Pelješac with the port Papratno and Dubrovnik that are sailing to Sobra, a port on Mljet. Also, there are catamaran lines, which is faster, but more expensive way of traveling. The best thing to do is to check the schedules of all boat lines, considering their price, duration, comfort, and of course time of season. But, I must add that every effort taken, is worthy.

Mljet is an island offering its visitors exceptional beauty and a handful of amusement for all tastes.

 It seems that it is a piece of land hidden from all worries and rush, floating on the waves of tranquility. There are two salt lakes in the National Park, and one has an islet with 12th century Benedictine Monastery and a church of Saint Mary that can be reached by a small boat.

The area of National Park covers around a third of the west part of the island. You can swim in both of these lakes even out of season since the water in lakes are slightly higher then those of the open sea. Mljet is a braced by greenish belt of pine umbrellas, leaning over the shore with small intimate coves and tame beaches. It is the island with the thickest forest among over a thousand islands in Croatian sea, and the conjunction of green and crystal blue heals the soul and wipes all the marks away.

You’ll find yourself looking around with your eyes and all your senses wide open. I discovered a magic there, sensing the presence of nymphs and heroes, watching them playful among the ancient hills and trees. Beside the system of lakes with the monastery and the church, as a part of National Park are also small settlements Polače, Goveđari, Soline, Pristanište and Pomena with the only one hotel on the whole island. Still, lodging can be easily found even inside the Park in private houses. People of Mljet used to be sailors and fisherman, but today many of them are living from the incomes of tourism, by renting picturesque and cozy apartments and rooms, or cooking delicious food for their guests based on a traditional Dalmatian cuisine with fresh fish and homegrown herbs and vegetables.

The National Park of Mljet can be experienced by hiking, cycling, driving, diving, paddling and other. Do not forget your photo camera, although the scenes of beauty which can be spotted here will permanently change your esthetical comprehending. This is the place that overwhelms you with its uniqueness, as well as the presence of the past imprinted in the landscape. Outstanding are the marks of history, sprawling from Illyrian tribes and Roman Imperia, through the Republic of Dubrovnik, until today. You want ever forget the first time you see Roman palace with an fortress and Basilicas, hidden in one of the mystical bays of Mljet.
So, do not hesitate. Write your own fairytale, and place it on Mljet.

All the stories from there seem touched by a magical stick to be told sometime, someone, somewhere between reality and fantasy.