Dubrovnik Days: Day 2, Peacocks in Paradise

Another post by Alison and Laura

Alison: On our second day in Dubrovnik, the five of us took a 15 minute boat ride to a nearby island called Lokrum.  On the boat ride, it felt very cool having the wind blowing in my face.  When we first arrived on the island, we saw a lot of people, just like we expected.

Laura:  But once we walked a little way, we quickly got away from the crowd.  It was a welcome departure from the masses in Old Town.  It was kind of hard to believe that we were so close to Dubrovnik.

Alison:  Instead of people, there were peacocks.  I think that peacocks are so pretty and exotic, so I took a lot of pictures of them.

I don't think I've ever seen a peacock before, so it was such a cool experience.  I will say though that the beautiful male peacocks are pretty snobby.  Even the less colorful females were very pretty to look at.

Laura:  While paying attention to the many peacocks, we came upon an outdoor gym with a variety of exercise equipment--and a four-person sea-saw.  And all five of us played there.  J.D. and I think that this kind of outdoor gym would be a great addition to our hometown in the States (though the many months of snow might discourage gym-goers!).

Sisters on a sea-saw 

Alison: I'm sure you know the Dead Sea in Israel.  Well, there is a Dead Sea in Lokrum too.  Actually, not quite a sea and not quite dead either (I saw fish in there).  When we first got there, we kind of had to change into our bathing suits in public.  Since there weren't really many people there, it didn't matter, did it?  After changing and slapping on some sunscreen, we went down to the swimming hole connected to the sea by a little cave.  Mom, what did you think of this?  I thought it was pretty astonishing.

Laura: I agree.  The water and the setting were beautiful.  And you could see peacocks flying--and though I'd seen peacocks before, I'd never seen them fly.  Plus, you could hear them screaming.

Alison:  When I got into the water--which I really didn't do for awhile because it was so cold--I really wanted to climb the rope, which you'll see in the picture below.  It was near the cave, which was connected to the Adriatic Sea.  And you could tell that the water was like 25 feet deep.  The depth of the water dropped extremely fast.  First you were up to about 2 feet, then 5, and then 15.  By the way, almost all of the beaches in Croatia are rocky, so you always need to wear water shoes.  Now time for the rope story.

Alison:  So, as I said, I wanted to climb the rope, or at least swim to it.  Luckily, I am a pretty good swimmer and got there in about 5 minutes.  Unfortunately, my water shoes were from Wal-Mart, which, if you live in America, you will know that sometimes their quality is not the best.  Pretty much that meant that one water shoe kept falling off.  I did not know whether my water shoes floated or not, but when I got to the rope and was trying to climb it, I noticed that my one shoe fell off, so I kind of freaked out because the rocks are very sharp and if, by accident, I stepped on one, I could really cut my foot.  But for the 4 seconds I panicked, my shoe floated to the surface.  The rope was very fun, though a little less enjoyable because of my shoes.

Me climbing the rope; see the cave to the left and my Dad and Caroline to the right

Laura: After swimming, we hiked up to the fort high up on the island.  This fort was built in the 1800s, first by the French during the Napoleonic Wars and then later by the Austrians.  The hike through a forested area, as well as the views of Dubrovnik's Old Town, were lovely.

View of Dubrovnik from the fort