Croatia 24 - Otok Pag and Pag/Dobra Dan /marmalade croissants, a double espresso/Venetian warehouses and some salt pans

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Dobra Dan to you this fine morning - Good morning from Otok Pag . Pag island in Croatian. It is another day and a fine one at that . The weather has gradually crept up over the last few day and the sun now beats down upon us. We feel like we have finally arrived . This year though we have managed on the way down to take in some sights. Hopefully this will continue as we move ever so slowly southwards towards Bosnia .

We extricated ourselves from our stopover . Whilst Glenn unhitched Gabby I set off to pay. It's a long way back following the red line passing the mini market , the bicycle hire shops and the hairdressers along the way. If I turned right instead of left and carried on for a while I would end up in the F.K.K camping . In our speak the naturist camp. Never been in one . I wonder what they would be like . It is time to leave Novalja and we are glad really. There was enough to keep us there a day but beyond that we would start to get bored. The need to move on would be great. There is only so much you can take of witches conventions and oompah bands .

Our destination was across this long island heading for the bridge which linked it with the mainland at its southern end. No ferry back for us and no motorway peages until we reached the mainland again. Pag is very beautiful in a stark way. I guess like Marmite you could either love it or hate . There would be no inbetween on this island of stark whiteness and bright sunshine . Clear cloudless skies with a blue that reflected in the clear waters. No trees. If you love trees you will be shocked by the lack of them on the island . We have visited a number of Croatian islands over the years and each have a distinctive character . We loved Krk which was the first island we visited way back in 2012. We were less enamoured with Cres and Rab but loved Korcula with its Venetian defences and fort. Pag rates highly with its scraggy long legged sheep, its wild pink roses and yellow broom and its cheese factories .

There us only one main road across the island and as we travel along it we pass through tiny villages with just a handful of houses . Constantly having to reduce speed down to 50 kph it is clear you don't get anywhere fast here and why would you want to? The views of the coastline are nothing short of stunning. We hug the coast all the way into Pag town. It is jawdroppingly beautiful and the view never fails to impress us.

We park up on the towns car park 10kuna for two hours. Two hours is plenty as there is not much to see. The flowers are everywhere.From those I recognise - the pink roses and yellow broom and some less well known. I would need a flower book to identify them. Some kind of purple spikes. Striking and everywhere . . We crossed the bridge and walked into town. We passed the old Venetian salt warehouses. Now having alternative use. A builder using them for storage. An old disco which had seen better days. I wondered what work was available to the locals. Perhaps they crossed the bridge to work on the mainland. There were a few cafes and a street with a number of tat shops. Work was to be had at the one bank in town or in the Tourist Information office. We perched ourselves on a seat at a cafe on the pretty but fairly empty square. Some quite interesting old buildings including the local church bounded the square . Over two double espressos we people watched. No women about apart from a tourist or two. You could have a Pag speciality breakfast here. Dry Benedictine biscuits, honey and fig jam .

After our coffee we called in on the church. From outside it was most interesting. Inside however was a touch bland. We did not want to intrude on the nun who was quietly arranging flowers on the altar table. She was engrossed with the job in hand . It seemed wrong to impose on her quiet moments with her God. Our final stop was to call in to the bakery for a cake, some croissants and a loaf of bread. Not an easy task. Think boulangerie in France and then forget that thought . Cake shops in Croatia are nothing like boulangeries in France with their wide selection of jaw dropping cakes. I checked them all and nothing caught my eye. All prepacked . The selections were mainly savoury. No plain croissants . Just marmalade filled ones or chocolate. When I only bought a baguette the assistant glared at me and threw it at me. she must have got out of the bed on the wrong side this morning.

As we headed back to Gabby we thought that Croatia has not changed much since our first visit in 2012. Another of my thoughts for the day was around a subject that seemed to be pretty right for today . Mooji said “Life is simply flowering, unfolding by itself. Come to recognise the simplicity of all this and bask in immutable joy”. Croatia is a joyful place. It is a place that is slowly unfolding and dragging the tourists in . I hope it never changes to become another Spain . Long may it stay the way it is . Quaint , interesting , a simple stunning place . I would hate it to change.

Our last sight of Pag were the salt pans on the outskirts of town. 3.4km of salt pans in total. Now they probably provided work for some of the locals .

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Comments

[Jackie Harrison]

Croatia
Laku noc! x

[JenGog]

lacu nok
Spent a lacu nok in Hvar. The roads were a bit hairy from the ferry to the north but it is stunningly beautiful . Back at Zaostrog for the third time since we started motorhoming x