Our first chance to get out and find some plants (as that’s what we have come to Croatia to do) was the tiny island of Lokrum which is just 600m – virtually a 10min boat ride -from the Old City.

Although inhabited by Benedictine monks since 1023 it wasn’t until Archduke Maximilian Ferdinand of Habsburg built a mansion built in 1859 that plants came to the fore on Lokrum.   He laid out an amazing garden with an incredible variety of botanical wonders.We spent half a day Criss-crossing every path we could to find some treasures, but it’s a pretty barren island and being early in April there weren’t many to find and we were disappointed.  Though we weren’t to stay that way for long….