Most islands look like irregular blobs on a map. A few look like animals or boots if you squint. But in the Adriatic Sea, off the coast of Croatia, there's one that needs no squinting at all. Seen from above, it's shaped almost exactly like a heart.
The island is called Galešnjak, and its shape is entirely natural. It's often described as one of the world's few naturally occurring heart-shaped objects. Its nicknames say it all: Island of Love, Lover's Island, or simply Love Island. People knew about its outline for two centuries, but it became world-famous only in 2009, after it was highlighted on Google Earth.
Where to Find the Heart
Galešnjak sits in the Pašman Channel, a strip of water between the island of Pašman and the mainland town of Turanj, in the northern Dalmatia region of Croatia. Pašman itself lies south of the historic city of Zadar and is known for its greenery and clear waters.
Pašman is the 12th largest island in the Croatian archipelago and is said to have some of the cleanest water in the Adriatic, thanks to constantly changing currents. In ancient times, the sheltered channel was such an important waterway that the island's eastern side was densely settled.
The heart is small. Galešnjak covers only about 0.13 square kilometers, roughly 32 acres, and its shoreline runs about a mile around. It has two low peaks, the higher one rising about 118 feet above the sea. Those two bumps help give the island its rounded lobes.
Mapped for Napoleon
The island's unusual shape isn't a modern discovery. It was first recorded in the early 1800s by Charles-François Beautemps-Beaupré, a French cartographer working in the era of Napoleon. He included it in his 1806 atlas of the Dalmatian coast, which is kept today at the National and University Library in Zagreb.
Beautemps-Beaupré was no ordinary mapmaker. He charted coastlines for French expeditions and later became chief hydrographer of the French Navy's chart office. His work earned him the title "father of hydrography," and five French navy ships have been named after him.
Wild, Private, and Very Old
Despite its fame, Galešnjak is no resort. It's privately owned by the Jureško family, who live in the village of Mrljane on Pašman. The island is home to wild plants and trees, a colony of small rabbits, and wild pigeons.
People were there long before Google Earth, though. The island holds three known burial mounds from the ancient Illyrians, along with the foundations of an ancient building. More recently, olive and fig trees have been planted, and two cleared paths now cross the heart.
Today, the island hosts engagements and small wedding parties, and tours depart from the nearby village of Tkon. It's hard to imagine a more fitting spot to pop the question.
Other Hearts in the Sea
Galešnjak isn't the only island with a romantic outline. In Fiji, the resort island of Tavarua, about 29 acres, is also said to be shaped somewhat like a heart. Surfers know it better for Cloudbreak, a powerful wave off the island that many rank among the best in the world.
Still, few natural shapes are as tidy as Galešnjak's. So if you ever need proof that nature has a sentimental side, just look down on a small green island in the Adriatic.
