THE TOUCH OF THE ANCIENT OLIVE TREES
THE ISLAND OF PAG (Part I)
You realize how blessed and lucky you are to have the opportunity to travel and visit new places only when you come to a location that looks like it's on another planet, then you realize that you haven't experienced even 1% of what this beautiful planet of ours has to offer. Pag amazed me with its brutal beauty, and incredible landscape that I believe cannot be found anywhere else. On one side you can see a desert full of rocks and stones, while on the other you can see the beautiful blue sea and beautiful beaches. And you can't help but wonder if this is real or just an illusion. My every other sentence was WOW amazing. I was skeptical when we decided to make Pag our summer vacation destination, but now that I've visited it, I realize it was the best decision we made. The road itself from Zagreb to Pag is amazing, of course I always try to choose the best scenic view, so I never use the highway, but the old roads. The moment when you cross the Pag bridge is the moment when you realize that you have made a great decision and that an incredible vacation awaits you. Already the first views leave you speechless. And as you go deeper into this island, you realize that this will not be an ordinary vacation, but an adventure.
We planned to stay here for 5 nights, 6 days. We booked accommodation at Bellavista Bed and Breakfast, which faced the sea and offered us a view of it. The first day we arrived around 3 o'clock because I left a little later than we planned because the forecast predicted rain all day and we decided to sleep until later because of course we wouldn't be able to use the day for swimming. But as we got closer to Pag, we realized that the forecast was wrong and that we missed a beautiful sunny day, but since we can't change the past, we decided to use the rest of the day ahead of us and went straight to the nearest beach to swim and sunbathe. In addition to the fact that the forecast just missed the exact time, the storm that was announced for the morning and afternoon appeared around 6 pm. The sky opened and black clouds covered the whole sky and a summer storm like I had never seen before began. Waves of several meters raged and crashed on the beach. We somehow managed to just walk to the nearest restaurant to grab dinner and headed back to the hotel as fast as we could. The weather forecast was predicting the same weather for the next 10 days and we had already accepted that we might not see the sun and might not be able to swim in the sea, but we decided to adapt to the situation and try to make the best of it. We sat down and made a plan for the next day which included visiting the northern part of the island. The next day we woke up, had breakfast, got ready with all the necessary things for the beach and headed to the northern part of the island. The weather was cloudy but not raining yet and we hoped that it would clear up in the next few hours and that we would be able to go to the beach, but before that we planned a visit to the town of Lun, as well as a visit to the famous Lun Oilers. This town is about 45 kilometers away from the town of Pag and is located in the northernmost part of the island. The way there is with incredible viewpoints and views of the sea. Although it is quite short, several landscapes change and you can't help but wonder how it is possible to change so much flora and fauna. One moment you think you are in a desert and there are stones and sand all around you, and the next second you enter a green oasis, while the view of the clear blue sea constantly follows you.
The northernmost part of the island is reserved for a very unusual garden, an olive garden with over 80,000 trees of wild olives. Quite an interesting fact is that there are two olive trees here, one of which is 1600 years old, while the other is even 2000 years old, which ranks them among the five oldest olive trees in the world. And you can't help but feel excitement that you can touch them and be a part of such history. When you reach the olive groves, you can park your car in the parking lots that are not marked, that is, you need to find a place where you can squeeze your car in the places that are obviously used as parking for visitors to these gardens. There are two entrances and you can choose where you enter, we opted for the first entrance. You can buy a ticket at the entrance and it costs 4 euros per person. You also have guided tours that cost extra. The place is quite well marked and you know exactly which direction you need to go so a guide is not of any crucial need. The most interesting part of the visit is of course the two oldest olive trees which are an unavoidable part of this visit, the next very interesting thing that you must not miss without seeing is the lace of Lun, which is also a trademark of this city.
It is quite difficult to describe the feelings that overwhelm you the moment you stand in front of an olive tree that is 1600 or 2000 years old. I personally am fascinated by such things and honestly I couldn't take the smile off my face and of course I couldn't take my eyes off these fascinating olive trees. We have to show respect to these plants that have managed to survive and live such a long life, especially in such harsh conditions as they are on this island.
It all depends on how fast you go and how long you want to stay at each of these destinations, but it will take you roughly 2 hours to be able to make a circle and visit and see everything in these olive groves. At the other end of the olive grove, ie at the second entrance, there is a toilet and a gift shop where you can buy postcards, magnets and souvenirs from this olive grove.
After the end of the visit we headed to Lun, this charming little town which is quite interesting and cute. We made a small circle around the center and headed to Tovrnele restaurant, where we decided to have lunch. The restaurant is quite cute with excellent service and quite affordable prices, which is a positive surprise for these seaside places. The portions are quite generous and the food is very tasty. When we finished the delicious lunch, the clouds had already cleared and we had a beautiful sunny day ahead of us, which we decided to take advantage of and go to the beach to enjoy the sea and the sun. We decided to head to Chista beach, for which we received very positive reviews from the owner of the bed and breakfast. The beach is located halfway from Lun to Pag, which was also in our favor. Right after the most famous party beach on the island of Pag and beyond, Zrce beach. From the main road, you go down to the left along a narrow paved road towards the sea itself, where you will be met by a person who charges for parking, approximately 5 euros for the whole day. There is a restaurant and bar on the beach itself, which offers a variety of food, pizza, burgers, seafood, as well as various other meat and chicken dishes, for everyone's taste. The beach is narrow but long and you can rent deckchairs and parasols which cost around 18-20 euros for two deckchairs and one parasol. We settled on the beach and spent the rest of the day sunbathing and swimming.
.jpg)
