Island Lastovo, South Dalmatia - Top sights and holiday destinations

More than forty churches and chapels from various historical periods are scattered around the forested island, as the old Kaštel fortress watches over the medieval Lastovo town. Invisible from the open seas and tucked away in a natural amphitheater, Lastovo safeguards a treasury of sacred art in the church of Saints Cosmas and Damian, along with numerous Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque stone houses. The family hearths posess a unique charm due to the "fumars", ornamental chimneys. The stairways of Lastovo will take you from house to house and show you these unique architectural details, a source of endless competition between the locals, as well as a very visible proof of their wealth.

Although today surrounded by the lighthouses of Sušac, Tajan, Glavat and Struga, the submarine parts of the Lastovo park of nature bears many testimonies to ancient shipwrecks. The coexistence of these submerged relics with 248 species of aquatic vegetation and coral, sponges and tunicates, is unmissable for professional or amateur archeologists, biologists and zoologists, not to mention the plain and simple appreciators of undersea beauty.

A tapestry of cycling paths will take you through the vineyards and olive groves of Lastovo island. If you fail to find a small stone house and a kind host offering you freshly-cooked food made of home-grown ingredients, you can hardly fail to find a shady cove hidden somewhere far from sight. Perhaps Zaklopatice beach will surface in front of your eyes, perhaps the Skrivena Luka (Hidden Harbor) in the south of the island, but any ferry can take you to Ubli.

The carnival customs of Lastovo have been written down as early as 1390, and it has been carefully kept and renewed every winter since then. The legend of Catalan pirates attacking the neighboring Korčula and their demand for the unconditional surrender of Lastovo can be heard from any inhabitant. Most of them will recommend taking part in the carnival parare and the burning of Poklade, a effigy made of hay.

"Lastovo, island of music", a summer musical spectacle which originated as a small jazz festival, is set to disturb the idyll of the peaceful holiday destination. This is a great time to embrace the island's life philosophy contained in the word "pomalo", meaning relaxed, no worries, slowly, bit by bit, and let the musical days and nights carry you away. If you are pining for solitude, an excursion to the lighthouses and islands of Lastovo park of nature is the best you can do.