Place of Pilgrimage

The plan was to rent a car to get to the other end of the island. It's simply too small for regular bus service and too big to walk....about 30 km end to end....and plenty of ups and downs.

Near the ferry dock is the car rental...a local concern, not a world wide agency. We chose a tiny Fiat with stick.

The agency guy oriented us for getting to this and that small community of which there are numerous on the island...each pricariously perched on the side of yet another small mountain. He even told us to avoid the main thoroughfare of one town because of what a tight squeeze it was for cars. He said it was even tougher than driving the street of Sobra...which is about like trying to drive a semi through a bike path in Dublin.

I asked the agent if there were designated parking spots for cars in some of the coastal town.

"The whole island is a parking lot," he said.

                

Occasionally in life, an Ohio boy such as myself gets to wake up to see the sun rise on the ocean and to hear the waves lapping on shore (and to hear the refrigerator truck making deliveries of frozen food at the tiny store next door.)

But, such has been the case for these few days on Mljet Island.

                     

With a few people up and moving about, I took my coffee and walked along the road around the bay which nestles up to the town itself.

The Grand Design for today is the 12th Century Benedictine Monastery of St. Mary at the other end of the island. It is now contained within the National Park of Mljet.

(Take note: the photo below is from the brochure...the only way to give you an idea of what it is like.)

Somewhere in prehistory the tiny monastery island, contained within the Island of Mljet was an Illyrian settlement and there are Roman ruins still to be walked among on the monastery grounds.

          

The history of the grounds records Benedictines, farming, forestry, walled town, Pirates, a villa, conquering by Napoleon in 1808, Jesuits in the 20th century, a hotel back in the 1990's and now control by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dubrovnik

             

All of that dates back to the 12th Century and even before since they found deeper ruins. And today, the Diocese is restoring and renovating.

             

There were several smaller chapels around the grounds which had a definite need for restoration and yet they were sacred, as witnessed by these prayers to Mother Mary and the Holy Father in Rome.

               

The National Park has a system of trail all around the tiny island of the Monastery and one can bike or swim where ever you can reach the shore, which is easy to do.

             

I headed for the Cloisters of the Monastery, which are always my first choice in a monastery. Alas, they were closed for restoration, as witnessed by the stones set aside by the contractor for the walkway. Good for the monastery, too bad for me, but I was pleased to see the attention to this historic landmark.

         

The church itself was but solid stone (everything in this country is solid stone...that's all this country is....stone.....can't imagine how or if they dig basements.)

                  

The chapel too was in various stages of restoration and yet the massive stones were solid and the Romanesque arches signaled a devotion to classic architectural lines and a devotion to God.

                         

The clear blue waters around the Monastery Island enhanced the beauty of the chapel and walled portion and towers....all under reconstruction. 

I took note that for some reason they had a group of three donkeys kept on the monastery grounds, a rather rocky paddock. There was a restaurant and of course a souvenir shop of sacred items and T-shirts. And for some reason they restricted the use of razor scooters on the grounds....who would even think to have their kids bring a scooter to the chapel....but I guess they wanted to be covered unless a hoard of scooter riding kids descended on the island and threatened a siege like pirates and Napoleon did centuries ago.

Back in Sobra, we walk the road around the bay several times a day. This morning I took my coffee and walked, this evening I took my glass of wine and walked. I experience a privileged existence for a few days. While this is idyllic for me, it is a work a day world for the folks around here. 

The sail boats enter the bay and tie up at one of the two restaurants which are side by side "Ones serves fish  and one serves meat" as I am constantly told. And they both serve wine and so sail boaters come from the mainland for day tripping or island or town hopping. This town attracts the sail boats and some of the other coastal towns attract the yaughts which cruise the islands.

           

September 4 marked the beginning of schools again and so tourism is much slower. We were told that the "rooms, zimmers and apartments" were full in Sobra a few weeks ago.

The international crowd has fled and the tourists are Croatians from the mainland. I think the locals are now catching their breath after the hectic tourist season.

"You have come at exactly the right time!" Says our apartment owner.

Which was the plan...avoid the deluge of tourists...though I know enough to avoid any place in Europe in July or August as the continent scrambles for their holidays.

              

This is exactly the type of village that one would imagine for getting away from it all, but the store owner still has to stock and restock and pay her bills (by the way....I paid by debit card just like at Kroger back home...even though the market is the size of my office. She weighed the fruit, it printed out a barcode sticker, she slapped it on the apple then read the barcode with wand to total the price.)

I watch the fishermen haul in fish, on truck or boat...not sure....the huge plastic containers just appear on the dock....the fish could be from a Chinese fishing vessel just off shore, for all I know.

           

The water is inviting and like parking your car....if you can find a place....take it. We walked along the bay until we found some rocky stair which did not say "Private" and found our way to the water. It's not sandy beaches around here...it is rocky shores. But the water is refreshing and blue and crisp.

               

I'd kayak if I could but no one is renting and few kayaks exist in this town. It's story book existence for a couple days with a rhythm all its own.

    

                                    

Night time beckons back in Sobra. I am drinking in all of this coastal village living stuff. As I said, this Ohio boy doesn't often walk the shores of the sea nor watch the full moon illuminate the Adriatic bays of tiny islands.

Once again............ an opportunity to let my spirit catch up with me.

                             

Peace,  Bob