Lopud

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General

One of the most interesting Dubrovnik islands is like a product of wild imagination. Lopud, this magnificent Dubrovnik island is located between Kalamota and Šipan, perfection surrounded by beauty.

It is an island of true Adriatic summer feel, full of Mediterannean and subtropic vegetation, amazing cypress and pine parks and citrus gardens. Throughout history Lopud has been an island of sea - captains providing the Dubrovnik Republic with many highly reputed seamen among them the illustrious captain Miho Pracat.

The island itself is 4,6 square km large and has only one settlement, located in a bay, named Lopud on the far side of the island towards Šipan. A small path leads out of Lopud and leads across the island to a miraculous beach in the Bay of Šunj, the Šunj beach

Šunj beach is one of the kind on the Adriatic, maybe even the whole Mediterranean. It is a sandy beach spreading across the whole bay with knee deep water reaching as far as 100 meters of the beach, ideal for children and for playing all sorts of watersports, mainly picigin, Dubrovnik's favoruite summer sport. The sea in Šunj bay and other Lopud beaches, like in the whole of Dubrovnik Riviera, is Mediterrannean warm and crystal clear, except on Šunj where it's a bit warmer because it is a shallow sandy beach.

History

In ancient times Lopud was known as a Greek (Delaphodia), later as a Roman (Lafota) habitation. From the 11th century, Lopud was attached to the Dubrovnik Republic; from 1457 it was the seat of a principality. In the 15th century the island was settled by the refugees from the areas occupied by the Turks. The inhabitants of Lopud were oriented to seafaring from the early days. In the 16th century they participated with their ships in the invasions of Spanish rulers on Tunisia, Algeria, Portugal and England, so that the saying about the three hundred Vica widows of the fallen seafarers from Lopud became legendary (a poem based on the legend was written by Antun P. Kazali).

The oldest monuments on the island are the ruins of a pre-Romanesque church of St. Elias (wall painting), St. Peter, St. Nicholas, St. Maurice and St. John (fragments of "pleter" - interlacery ornaments). The cove of Lopud was defended by two fortresses: one on the peninsula and another one (Sutvrac, 1563) at the foot of the highest peak. At the entrance into the harbour is the Holy Trinity church (16th-17th c.). Above the harbour is the Franciscan monastery with a cloister from 1483, abandoned in 1808. The monastery church of St. Mary of Spilica keeps a number of valuable works: a polyptych by the Venetian painter Pietro di Govanni (1523), a triptych from the workshop of Nikola Bozidarevic, parts of a polyptych by Girolamo da Santacroce, The Crucifixion, a work by a member of the Venetian family Bassano, the painting of Mary in a Wreath of Flowers, a work by a Flemish Baroque painter, the carved choir stalls from the 15th century. Along the coast are the restored summer mansion of the Dordic family (later Mayneri) with a nice park, as well as a deserted Dominican monastery, built in the transitional Gothic-Renaissance style (1482). On a prominent location above the village are the ruins of the Duke's Palace, a two-story Gothic structure with a terrace garden. On the south-eastern side of the island is the cove of Sunj, with the church of Our Lady of Sunj (12th c., reconstructed until the 17th c.) with the wooden, carved main altar; the church keeps a number of paintings: Our Lady with Child (Jacopo Palma the Elder), The Holy Family, The Annunciation (an early Baroque Umbrian painter), parts of the polyptych by Matej Juncic from 1452.

Approaches

LOPUD

(42° 41'N; 17° 57'E) village and cove on the NW coast of Lopud. The cove can be entered through Lopudska vrata (from the S) or through the Kolocep Channel. When approaching from the N, care should be taken to avoid the shoal patch and Sutmiho rock in front of N Sv Mihajlo point; in its vicinity there is a monastery with a belfry. A red iron tower (red light) is situated on the breakwater.

SUNJ

(42° 41'N; 17° 57'E) Cove in the SE coast of Lopud. When approaching from the N, care should be taken to avoid the Cavalika shoal (depth about 3.5 m), W of the point cape of the same name. When approaching from the S, care should be taken to avoid Skupio islet (shoal extends E, depth about 5.8 m), and the Skupjeli rock near the S entrance point.

Marinas and Anchorages

LOPUD

(42° 41'N; 17° 57'E) village and cove on the NW coast of Lopud.

The cove is well protected from all winds except northwesterlies, during which waves break strongly against the coast. Smaller yachts can moor alongside the L-shaped breakwater fronting the village, when it is not used by local liners (depth 1.34.3 m). Good anchorage, especially for bigger yachts, off the E coast (depth 2040 m).

Facilities

• Post office and medical service;
• Provisions and water.

Sights: Remains of ramparts (1516 C), the Franciscan monastery (1483, fortified in 1516, tower dating from 1592), Sv Marija od Spilice church (Our Lady of Spilice, 12 C, later additions), the ruins of Miho Pracat's and Bishop Brautic's summer residences (16 C), Sv Trojstvo church (Holy Trinity, 1617 C, collection of sacral art objects), the8 rdjevic-Mayneri summer house with a park.===

SUNJ

(42° 41'N; 17° 57'E), cove in the SE coast of Lopud.

As the cove is exposed to southerlies and to waves, it is not recommended for longer stays. Provisions in the village of Lopud (2 km).

Sights: Gospa od Sunja church (Our Lady of Sunj, 15 C, reconstructed in the 17 C).

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