Places to visit

Viewpoints

Hum viewpoint

This is a viewpoint providing a view of the northern part of the island the town of Lastovo is located at 417 m above sea level, which makes it the highest viewpoint on the island. Nearby, there is the chapel of St. George from the 15th century and abandoned military barracks, where the army stayed more than 25 years ago.

Sozanj viewpoint

The Sozanj viewpoint is located on the road between Ubli and Lastovo, and it gives the most beautiful view of Zaklopatica and the remote islands of Lastovnjaci. If you go up the forest road from the viewpoint to the top of the Sozanj hill, you will have a view of the western islands of the Park, Vis, Korčula and Mljet.

Galičine viewpoint

A viewpoint on the south side of the island of Lastovo with a view of the eastern and western islands of the Park, it shows the islands of Mljet, Korčula and the peninsula Pelješac. On a beautiful day, you can see Mala and Velika Palagruža, and the coast of Italy. The viewpoint is also an ideal spot for observing the night sky of Lastovo, the second darkest in Europe.

Pokladareva Grža viewpoint

From the viewpoint, you can see the whole town of Lastovo, where the amphitheatric form of the town is particularly emphasized. The viewpoint can be reached by a trail that starts in the town of Lastovo. It forms a part of the most important event of the year on the island – the Lastovski Poklad, because it is from Pokladareva grža that Poklad is lowered.

Viewpoint by the church of St. Cyprian

The church is located above the Skrivena Luka cove on the eastern side. From here, you can take a look at the whole cove and the lighthouse Struga. Of 46 churches, 21 of them are registered as protected cultural heritage. There are legends connected to some of them, as is the case in this small and rustic church on top of the hill above Skrivena Luka. The legend says that foreigners unloaded and carried away the treasure that was once buried under the altar of the church of St. Cyprian.

Kašćel viewpoint

At Glavica above the town of Lastovo, where the prehistoric fortress once stood, the Dubrovnik government erected a castle that was frequently repaired. It contained houses, a well, and a small chapel devoted to St. John. At the site of this Dubrovnik castle, which was destroyed during the Lastovo uprising, a new one was erected in 1808, when the French occupied the island.

After remodelling, their fortress is still used as a meteorological station today. It takes 10 minutes to walk to the scenic trail from the centre of Lastovo. It provides a view of the coves of Lučica and Mihajla, the Lastovo canal and the island of Korčula.

Lighthouses

Sušac lighthouse

The island of Sušac, the westernmost island of the Lastovo archipelago, located 13 nautical miles away, boasts a lighthouse. The Sušac lighthouse was built in 1878 on the highest peak of the southern part of the island. On the southern side, it is exceptionally steep, and the cliffs plunge into the deep and clear sea, which remains clear even at a depth of some thirty metres. The south-eastern side of the island gently descends towards the sea and abounds in beautiful coves and walking paths. The lighthouse has its own cistern, and electricity is provided by solar collectors with batteries. There are two ruinous churches in Sušac, the church of St. Nicholas from the 12th century, above Portić, and the church of St. Mary from the 15th century. On the northern part of the island, there are visible traces of houses, abandoned fields, olive groves and several smaller fields. The only inhabitants are lighthouse workers and a shepherd, who occasionally resides on the island.

Struga lighthouse

It is located in Skrivena Luka, 7 km away from Lastovo and 17 km from the Ubli ferry port. The lighthouse was built in 1839 on the headland of the same name, and is one of the oldest on the Adriatic. The Struga lighthouse has a 20-meter-high cylinder tower, located at an altitude of 104 meters. Due to its distance from the coast, it seems lonely, and it appears as if it plunges into the blue of the sky and the open sea. It is located on the edge of a steep cliff, which gives an exceptional view of the open sea, while the light from the Struga lighthouse is visible up to 20 miles away and warns the boats that they are close to Lastovo. In its depths, the stunning cliff hides coral and gorgonia colonies.

Glavat lighthouse

At the easternmost island of the Lastovo archipelago, 9 nautical miles away from Lastovo to the east, there is the Glavat lighthouse. The Glavat lighthouse was opened in 1884 and it is among the largest buildings of this kind on the eastern part of the Adriatic. The lighthouse has its own cistern, and the light signalling device is powered by a battery that is supplied by an inverter and solar panels. The light is at an altitude of 45 meters and at night, it dominates the entire archipelago. The underwater world has a myriad of caves and stone boulders and is very attractive for diving tourism. Glavat is characterized by somewhat higher precipitation compared to other offshore islands of this part of the Adriatic. Thanks to this, the island can grow shrubs of bushy vegetation. Numerous legends are connected with Glavat, the most famous of which is the legend of the emergence of the island. According to this legend, Glavat was created thanks to a squabble between the gods of Olympus. The gods argued about which island is the most beautiful, Lastovo, Mljet or Korčula. Finally, Poseidon decided to send his emissary to decide on the spot. He emerged from the sea at the spot where Glavat is located today; he watched all three beautiful islands for three days because he could not decide which one is the most beautiful. To punish him, gods turned him to rock, or to the isle of Glavat.

Sights

Early Christian basilica

The basilica is 17 m long and 6.75 m wide, and has an east-west orientation. It was constructed in untreated stone with plaster. It had a semi-circular apse, and it is strengthened with counterforts on the outside. On the inside, there was a painted stone bench against the wall. The altar was fenced with thin marble slabs, inserted into slots of slender stone columns, which are only preserved in fragments. Between the stone remains of the entrance door, a shallow relief with a triangular end was found, which is kept in the Archaeological Museum in Zadar. Window fragments have also been found – marble grilles which form a chessboard. This type of construction suggests that this basilica dates back to the 6th century. It is interesting that the entrance was set laterally and approached from the narthex, a six-column porch lobby. Its western corner featured a stone grave. From the southern side of the basilica there were four rooms, of which the central ones were in direct ritual function, while the lateral ones contained sarcophagi and graves. The remains of the basilica were preserved from 1978 to 1981.

The church of St. Luke

St. Luke, constructed in the 11th century by the old trail connecting the two largest settlements of the island of Lastovo, the town of Lastovo and Ubli, is the oldest church on the island. It was restored and decorated in 1954, and is also the oldest church on the island in which church rituals are still performed.

The little church has all the characteristics of pre-Romanesque sacral buildings and as such, it represents a significant monument of cultural heritage. The feast is celebrated on October 18, when a mass is also held. With a long walk along the old paths, which are now revived, you can visit all of the old churches of Lastovo’s fields and settlements.

Klačine

Klačine can be found in several places on the island of Lastovo; the most attractive ones are the ones on an old forest road to Zaklopatica. The people of Lastovo used klačine to produce lime and built them near a settlement or building for which they were intended. On the outer and inner sides, a klačina was lined with stone so that half of the building is in the soil, and the other half in the shape of a dome is above the ground. On the front, there was a door, through which fire was stoked. By using high temperatures, the dome-like stone would melt and the dome would collapse. By mixing with water, slaked lime was produced, which was used for building houses, walls, etc. Stone, sand and klak were the only building materials available for construction.

Lučica

Lučica is the last preserved example of a Baroque fishing village in this area of Dalmatia, where fishing has always been an important source of food and income for the local population. From the beginning of the 17th century, the people of Lastovo built stone fisherman’s houses in this narrow bay. The houses served as protection from the storm, to keep fishing gear, salt fish and boat stretching. Lučica is an important cultural and historical unit from the Middle Ages, and is easily reached from the village of Lastovo by a pleasant 10-minute walk through one of the rare examples of pure evergreen forest and evergreen oak with myrtle.