11 May – Pag

11 May – Pag

Today we rode most of the length of the island of Pag, from Nin to Novalja in the north. It is a long skinny island with only one possible route for most of the way. Kris enjoyed a day without much navigation required.

This is one of the most astonishing landscapes I have ever traveled through. It becomes progressively more barren, and at the middle it is like a desert with white granite rock all around and the azure blue sea ever present in the distance.

There is not much (if any) soil here for plants to take hold on. There is also not much agriculture – evidently there are a few goats somewhere. They build these little stone walls around their “fields” to try to keep what soil there is from blowing away in the strong prevailing coastal winds.

We stopped at a roadside store and bought some local goats cheese – it must be the most expensive cheese we have bought in Europe so far. It tastes a bit like the common and cheap Italian Parmesan cheese blocks.

We had a good tail wind for most of the day and the cycling was very enjoyable.
We paused in Pag to have a quick look at the town.

Then over a bridge and a big slow climb up the white granite mountain on the other side. The view over Pag from up there was amazing and we stopped a few times to admire it (and rest).

We saw some other cycle tourists for the first time on Pag – three lone male cyclists on separate occasions – each carrying a huge load – they looked as though they were camping – carrying too much baggage.

Our final destination was Novalja, a tourist town at the north of the island. A very still, dead tourist town with no tourists and everything on hold, waiting for the tourist season to start in a few weeks time. Apparently it gets extremely crowded and chaotic – bizarre.

Our apartment is nice and clean and modern – in a block of tourist apartments, with a beautiful swimming pool out front. The price was heavily discounted. The hosts who greeted us were extremely friendly and helpful.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.