View from our rock where we had a picnic lunch next to the Monastery on St Mary Island, a small island in the Mljet national park.

Already halfway through our vacation and we’re in love with the blue Adriatic.

We got up early this morning to catch the boat to Mljet–the farthest of the islands we visited on our trip. We had a necessary coffee and croissant after we purchased our tickets for the boat (and planned on not getting to the boat so early the next day).

We picked Mljet because its national park was described as “an obligatory excursion destination for lovers of virgin nature.” And who doesn’t love virgin nature?

We stopped the small grocery store once we got to the island, and did the best we could at ordering ham, cheese, a loaf of bread, and some nuts and raisins for our afternoon picnic.

Then, we rented bikes and biked around the 15km island, enjoying the quiet and solitude. It was almost like a sensory overload with the blue-green lakes, olive, fig, rosemary, lime trees, and orange roofs of the houses.

We ended up finding a rock overlooking a Monastery (see rock, 1st pic). We could easily dip in the cool water and enjoy our lunch in the sun. It was heaven.

After spending the day in seclusion, we stopped at a seafood restaurant when we got back to Gruz harbor. The sunset was the perfect end to a perfect day.