I am Adam in an Adriatic Eden. On Mali Brijun, spiders crawl over my notebook. Geckos sniff my sandwich.It gets weirder. The island’s fallow deer appear unafraid of humans. They just swam across the Adriatic Sea for lunch on Mali Brijun from the neighbouring island of Veliki Brijun .
But now Mali Brijun has fully opened to visitors for the very first time. There are more firsts, such as the new snorkel trail that calls upon conger eels and rare corals. And a simple new hostel converted from Austro-Hungarian military barracks where I’ve just taken a siesta – I’m probably the first British tourist to sleep on the island since time began.I navigate Mali Brijun via the new app, which visitors can use to explore alone.
The app highlights Mali Brijun’s historic highlights. Yet the island’s 175m-long military fortifications – three times longer than the White House – still come as a massive shock. In 1900 the grandest fort on the Adriatic Sea was constructed on this lonesome elysium. Twenty canons built by Krupp in Germany were installed to guard the Austro-Hungarian Empire from the Ottomans, British and French.
My Robinson Crusoe chapter is closing. As Mali Brijun’s new hostel is reserved for larger groups from €30pp – who can enjoy a National Park island entirely to themselves by night – I ride the new ferry to Veliki Brujun. This summer visitors can paddle between the islands on a new kayak tour. You might pass migrating deer enroute.The twin islands of Mali Brijun and Veliki Brijun appear separated at birth.