St. Mary Island

St. Mary's Island isn't really a separate island at all — it's a tiny islet, about 120 by 200 meters, sitting inside the Great Lake (Veliko Jezero) on Mljet, in the southern Adriatic near Dubrovnik. What's out there is a Benedictine monastery and church that have stood, in one form or another, since the late 12th century.

The story starts in 1151, when Desa, Duke of Zahumlje and Duklja, invited Benedictine monks from the monastery of St. Mary in Pulsano, on Monte Gargano in Apulia, to settle on Mljet. They built their monastery and a single-nave Romanesque church modeled on the one they'd left behind, finishing the church by 1198, the same year Pope Innocent III issued the document consecrating it. Over the centuries the complex was rebuilt more than once — most notably in the 15th and 16th centuries, when defensive walls and a tower were added in response to pirate raids along this coast, giving the monastery the fortified look it still has today.

The monks didn't just pray and copy manuscripts in their scriptorium; they also raised fish in a basin enclosed by walls running out from the islet, a fairly practical use of a very small piece of land. Monastic life here ended in 1809, when Mljet came briefly under French rule, and the building spent decades afterward serving other purposes — including, from 1960 to 1991, as a hotel — before it was returned to the Diocese of Dubrovnik in 1998.

Getting there today means mooring at Pomena or Polače, the two entry points to Mljet National Park, then crossing the lake by the park's small boats or by kayak, which is the more popular option among visitors who want to see the lake from the water rather than just from the paths on the island. Between the monastery and the lake itself — its water noticeably warmer than the open sea — it's a classic stop on a Croatia blue cruise itinerary, usually paired with a walk or bike ride around the rest of Mljet.