Going Loco on Lokrum

The island of Lokrum is packed with peacocks, salt water pools, ancient monasteries, and fun! We came here on a ferry boat leaving the Old Port of Dubrovnik. When you get there, you will find that the island is infested with peacocks! There are also some adorable bunny rabbits (no feeding them or the peacocks, if you can help it because the peacocks love trying to steal your food). At the island’s salt water lake, a peacock ate someone’s hot dog in three bites (its neck looked like it was going to expand like a balloon)! Here is what happened: we were just coming around the corner to the Dead Sea (aka the salt water lake) and after a few minutes, someone sat down to eat their hot dog… and wham, the peacock took it right our of her hand and swallowed it. One perk about when we were on Lokrum was… the baby peacocks! They were tiny brownish balls of cuteness and fluff! The only way to tell if a peacock chick is a male is if it has a tiny mohawk of black feathers sticking out of its head.

The Dead Sea was a small salt water lake in the southwest corner of Lokrum, packed with peacocks and swimmers. The hardest part of swimming here is getting in without poking your feet on the rocks lining the shore or the band of urchins further out. A good place to climb in is at the small rock peninsula pointing at the cave on the other side of the lake. One thing I think you will need to know is that you should save lunch for after your swim (the peacocks will get your lunch if you leave it on shore). To avoid the trouble of the rocks and urchins on the shore, without using the rock point, use water shoes and enter wherever you want (try not to kill any urchins by stepping on them). One of the coolest things that we saw in the lake was a blueish-orangish starfish clinging to a large pointy rock close to the shore. Another interesting thing on Lokrum was the old monastery ruins. These ruins are the only easily accessible ancient building on the island (I didn’t know this until after the trip, but this is probably the reason that they used it for the Game of Thrones final episode, not that I watched it). I do not know who owned it when it was still in use in medieval times, but now it is completely overrun and owned by peacocks (who use it as a sheltered nesting ground). Back in the time it was built, it must have been spectacular with its ornate marble pillars and breathtaking spires with domed red-tiled roofs. Even though they are completely different, the peacocks, monetary, and dead sea were all spectacular parts of the trip.