{"id":1503,"date":"2025-01-22T11:25:47","date_gmt":"2025-01-22T11:25:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oneya.net\/?p=1503"},"modified":"2025-02-26T08:30:00","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T08:30:00","slug":"oneyatrip-with-a-dog-4-mljet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oneya.net\/en\/oneyatrip-with-a-dog-4-mljet\/","title":{"rendered":"Oneyatrip with a dog: 4. Mljet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On 21\/10\/2024, the sunset brought us to the most forested and green Adriatic island<\/strong>, one of the few with a preserved Mediterranean primeval forest<\/strong>: Mljet<\/strong>. It is home to many plants and animals, but thanks to the ‘imported’ mongooses, there are no venomous snakes on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, some history<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first settlers arrived on Mljet through the port of Praprotno on the Pelje\u0161ac peninsula 4,000 years ago <\/strong>and were engaged in sheep breeding, hunting, and fishing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first historical records from Mljet refer to Greek sea navigators<\/strong> who used the bays of Mljet as shelters from strong winds on the way to Kor\u010dula, Vis and Hvar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further, the islet came under Roman rule<\/strong>, but due to pirate attacks by the locals<\/strong>, it was only minimal. In order to subdue the local inhabitants, a palace was built in the town of Pola\u010de <\/strong>in the 3rd century, which had a defensive function, and priests from nearby early Christian basilicas also lived in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Pola\u010de<\/strong>, once a pirate settlement, today the oldest marine national park in Croatia, after a good half an hour’s drive from the ferry port of Sobra<\/strong>, we also sailed with Tara. I obviously booked and paid the apartment (that booking offered me at a 40% discount) at the last minute – the owner informed me that I had overtaken his wife, who wanted to cancel the rental offer, by 15 minutes. The next day the only guests (they had with them their cat) left, the owner also joined his wife (a botanist – her book about the Mljet flora was waiting for me on the bookshelf) and his children in Zagreb, so we were left alone in the house above the town\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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View of Pola\u010de from the balcony of the apartment<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At first, we were impressed by the location of the apartment: with a balcony and a view of the bay at one side, and in front of the entrance at the back of the house, the Mljet Mediterranean Primeval Forest and the Mljet National Park begin. So we took our morning walks along a beautiful path, walked past lush trees and other vegetation, and reached the Large Lake in 20 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I was impressed also by the village of Pola\u010de <\/strong>itself with a bay and a sea of deep green color, protected from the wind by three islets (Mora\u010dnik, Tajnik, Kobrava), with a small shop, one open restaurant in the off-season, a pebble beach (also forbidden for dogs in the season<\/strong>), a small harbor, stone houses, ruins of a Roman palace with thermae, a warehouse, a reconnaissance (after the Amphitheater in Pulio and Diocletian’s Palace in Split, the third largest Roman building in Croatia), and the ruins of two early Christian basilicas \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The next day after our arrival, we bought a mandatory ticket <\/strong>to enter the park at the Info Point on the Large Lake (15 \u20ac regardless of the date or season, includes a ride to the island), and then climbed to the highest peak of the national park: Montokuc<\/strong>. A good hour in one direction, the walk was not physically too strenuous, about the mental and emotional well-being in the Aleppo pine forest, among more than 50 protected plant species, 25 different species of orchids \u2026 I won’t waste words … From the top of the hill (where stands the observatory of possible fires on the island) is a beautiful view of the Mljet island, forests and turquoise waters of lakes, sea, other islands \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I spent my 44th birthday exploring the most beautiful beaches on the island (Sutmiholjska, Big and Small Saplunara, Blace\/Limuni<\/strong>). The sea had 23 degrees, the air temperature was around 25, 26 degrees, so not only did my birthday wish about a picnic on the beach come true, but the universe added an unplanned panoramic ride around the island without a roof, splashing and swimming in the crystal clear, warm waters, sunbathing, playing and running with Tara and the bar dog on the soft sand (only the restaurant above the Great Saplunara was open, The caretaker of the Rottweiler, who turned out to celebrate the same birthday two days after me, invited us to a birthday party) \u2026 Again, on beaches that are not dog-friendly<\/strong> during the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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