Excursion programs from Dubrovnik

XVII. Lokrum Island Tour - plants from the world

Board the wonderful Dalmatian fishing boats, today restored for the purpose of cruising the Dalmatian coast, and visit the Lokrum island, a luxuriantly wooded island with a botanical garden and the ruins of a medieval Benedictine monastery. According to a legend, Richard the Lion heart was cast ashore here after being shipwrecked in 1192 while returning from the Crusades. The vow he made to build a church on the spot where he came ashore should he be saved was kept at least in part.

All though he came ashore in Lokrum, at the request of the people of Dubrovnik, he agreed to have the church built in the city itself. In 1859 Maximilian Ferdinand of Habsburg, the then owner of the island, came to Lokrum. He had a mansion built in the shape of a tower and a marvellous garden laid out, criss-crossed with pathways. The very name of the island of Lokrum (latin: acrumen) shows that even in ancient times there were plants from the far corners of the world growing here.