Buccari- Porto Rè/ Bakar-Kraljevica

Hello form Mljet!!

Yesterday we arrived to the island of Mljet. In its north side there is a wonderful natural park, where we have stayed for the last two days. The western part of the island of Mljet has been proclaimed a National Park in 1960. It is an island of great diversity where the pine recovers a large part of the 5.375 ha of the park.

This is the second additional destination that we have included in this adventure in the Adriatic sea, just as we did with the Kornati islands. We hope that the Archduke would have approved our choice.

We arrived to the park by the small bay of Ponema. There one can find several moorings that are managed by the restaurants situated along the coast.

   

The ticket of the park gives acces into all the trails and also allows the visitors to take a boat inside the salty lake that we find in the interior of the park.

   

It is impressive to see how the trees arrive just to the shore besides the wáter, and they seem to bend in order to gain some competitive advantage in respect to its neighboring “peers”.

In the largest of the two lakes there is an ancient Benedictine convent and a church that can be traced back to the XIIth century.

   

In the church of Santa María it is impressive to observe the way it has been constructed with a beautiful stone work. During the late afternoon the light enters through the main door illuminating in a beautiful way the church.

   

The views of the lake from the hill where the convent is situated are precios, in a day like yesterday, the light reflection and the images are fantastic.

http:// youtu.be/ LulNcFuUIxQ

In the lake we can observe some small traditional wooden boats that serve mainly to transport the visitors, and also for the pleasure of some of their private owners.

When we go back to our boat, late in the afternoon, we are again surprised by the colors that can be seen in some áreas of the lake and its shore.

   

This morning we started by visiting the control center situated in the largest of the lakes. Our intention was to do an interview with the people responsible of the lake. There are many details and we need to gather some data in order to fulfill correctly the study. Marin Perkovic very kindly explains to us the main characteristics od the Mljet natural park.

He explains to us the geological evolution of the whole island. In the park there is a new area with excellent photographies and detailed explanations about this subject.

   

He explains also to us how to arrive the the meteo center from where we can enjoy a marvelous view of the main lake.

We follow also a route, by the shore of the lake, where the names of the different trees and plants are indicated. The organization of the park and the indications are excellent and very didatic, and we spend a lot of time in this área. Around the ways we saw Pistacea lentiscus, Quercus ilex, Juniperis phoenicea, Juniperus oxycedrus, Smilax aspera, Erica arborea, Arbutus unedo and others spieces of plants.

   

The lakes within the National Park, Small and Big lake, are special geographic phenomenon, which has been directly connected to the sea with two canals. The fauna of the lakes are sponges ( Aplysina aerophoba), echinoderms ( Ophioderma longicaudum), bivalves ( Pinna nobilis) or crustaceans ( Eriphia verruscosa) and others. In the other side, the flora contains the algae Cystoseira adriatica or the plant Cymodocea nodosa.

Then it is the moment to visit a little village that was founded in 1873, during the same time that the Archduke was doing his studies all over the mediterranean sea. It is the first urban site since the Benedictine monks arrived to the island back in the XIIth century.

Finally we go back to the boat and we sail towards the bay of Polace. It is a veru beautiful bay in which, as in the rest of the islands, we are impressed by the exhuberance of the vegetation. In this bay there are also some ruins of an old church from the IVth century.

From tomorrow we retake the destinations that the Archduke studied and showed in his works: Calamotta channel / Kolocepski; Cannosa / Trsteno; and Stagno / Ston.

Best wishes!!

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