The only accessible entrance to Lorule’s Sanctuary area is in Hyrule’s Sanctuary itself. Lorule’s “sanctuary” is simply a cave attended by the Priest’s counterpart, the Philosopher. As Link leaves the cave, Hilda telepathically contacts him to say that something important to his quest is in the area. Unfortunately, unless it’s one of the two Maiamais in the area Link can get now (one on a wall near the graveyard, one in a tree southeast of the graveyard), Link can’t get it just yet. (There’s a third Maiamai under a big rock that’s inaccessible for now. I’m guessing that’s not it either.) There’s a fissure north of the graveyard on a ledge Link can climb to; in Hyrule, there’s a cave on that ledge with a heart piece.
With the massive number of rupees Link needs right now to buy Ravio’s available stock and fill the rupee pond in Lorule, I was slashing every single bush or grass tile looking for them. Bees are worth 50 rupees to the Bee Guy, so even needing to go there to deliver, it’s still worth gathering them. (Although some gatherings of Hinox made me nervous about not carrying fairies. Those things are rough.) Then it finally happened! I found a Golden Bee under a bush! But my bottles were full, so I hit the sword button to kill it before realizing it was a Golden Bee.
Link can enter the northwest corner of Lorule by a fissure on the back of Sahasrahla’s house. Once again, Hilda contacts him to say the Skull Woods are in the area, full of “beings no longer of this world.” The sage there is “pure of heart,” which probably means Gulley or Seres. (Sorry, Irene.) There’s a heart piece around the front of the house, and another atop a ruined house corresponding to Rosso’s that Link can Cuccoglide to [1]. Link can find seven of eight Maiamais: three on walls in the area, three hidden (grass, skull, bush), and one in a tree. There’s also a guy in a cave who’ll sell Link something for 888 rupees that turns out to be another Golden Bee! I even had a bottle for it, and took it to Kakariko Village and gave it to the Bee Guy, and got a Bee Badge that marks Link as a bee-friend so he won’t get stung. But… at this point I’d racked up a bunch of Shadow Links to duel, and one of the challenges is to defeat a Shadow Link using a Golden Bee. And I’d just given mine up. Sigh.
The southwest corner is inverted from A Link to the Past – Link can only reach the desert in Hyrule by going to Misery Mire in Lorule and coming back through a fissure. Hilda’s message says there’s a Sage in the area near desert sands, but there’s no desert in Lorule. She’s not sure what’s going on, but looking at the map there’s an isolated sandy area that I guess Lorule’s finest explorers couldn’t reach. There’s still nothing Link can do in the desert until he finds Osfala and gets the Sand Rod; I wasn’t even able to make the way to the dungeon entrance and unlock the weather vane there. There’s not much more to be done in Misery Mire, either. Link can get a couple Maiamais (one underwater, one on a wall).
Lorule seems to invert the locations of two dungeon locations from A Link to the Past: Turtle Rock has moved to the southeast, and Dark Death Mountain looks like the icy area. As Link enters the southeast area, Hilda says there’s a Sage in a fire dungeon in the area. There’s a Mama Turtle swimming around the area looking for her children. One has gotten itself on land and Link needs to flip it back into the water. Another is being harassed by Ku that Link needs to drive off. The third is stuck to a wall, and the Maiamai trick works here as well. (Speaking of, there are five in the area, and Link can get four: two on walls, one underwater, and one under a skull.) Once Link has rescued all the turtles, they create a platform Link can use to reach Turtle Rock. I’m not going in just yet, but it’s nice to have the weather vane active.
Oh, and I did eventually find another Golden Bee. I was cutting a lot of bushes.
Next: The last two areas.
[1] I’m trying to remember what this house is in A Link to the Past. I’m pretty sure it’s not important.
