After we left the 3 small islands of Elaphiti, we saw on the map the large island Mljet. On the internet, we saw that this island was praised for being a true nature jewel, about one third of the island has been declared a National Park. It is called the Greenest island of Croatia, wo we were inspired to sail there!
The island has about 1000 inhabitants, which is not a lot for an island that is 38 kilometers long and 3 kilometers wide. It has to do with the fact that 84% is covered by forest. Especially the westpart, which has such a density of vegetation, that the declared this a National park Mljet, it is the oldest preserved area in the Mediterranean.
It is said that the name “Mljet” comes from the Greek word “Melita”, which means “honey”. This is due to the abundance of wild herbs and the resulting large bee populations on the island.
We sailed to the west part of the island and since the tourist season will start half May, it is so quiet everywhere, you can park your boat where ever you want. So like in the Elaphiti islands, we checked if there is a free concrete quay at the border of the bay and we found a nice spot in front of a closed restaurant:
We parked our boat there and could walk easily to the little town. We talked with a few workers and the small supermarket owner. They said, ‘you must be the first tourists we see here at Mljet!’. They are all working on their shops to have it prepared to open half May and many restaurants are being a bit renovated. Also the restaurant where our boat was. The next day, the owner came and he asked us if we wanted power, we were allowed to use his electricity point. Very kind!
We started cycling to the National Park and the road quickly went up the hills, we had a nice view on the bay and the small village where our catamaran was in front of the restaurant.
We came to the entrance of the National Park.
Inside the park, we soon saw the two lakes called Veliko and Malo Jezero, that the park is famous for. The lakes are more than 10,000 years old and have only been connected for a few centuries. with the sea, which means the water is now salty, which is to be a unique phenomena in the world.
We cycled around the lakes and also filmed this with the drone. Here you can also see how densely forested the island is and how clear the water is with the beautiful turquoise colors.
On the Great Lake there is a small island, Sveti Marija, with a Benedictine monastery from the 12th century. It was the monks who dug a narrow passage from the lakes to the sea, so that the lakes are now slightly salty.
It was so nice to be here on this island, we stayed for 3 days. We cycled to different areas of the island, it really was beautiful to see the forested hills and many bays with crystal clear water.
An idyllic place to have stayed. When we sailed a way, we looked back on this special island with warm memories.
