Pag island croatia how to get there. Island of Pag: lace, sheep and Croatian Ibiza. Lamb is generally the main food of Pag

The island of Pag is one of the most popular resorts in Croatia. locals, and active travelers from other states. The permanent symbols of the picturesque island for many years have been Pag cheese and skillful lace - unique creations created by the hands of local cheese makers and artisans. A huge number of travelers come to the island all year round. In summer, adherents prefer to spend time here. beach holiday and hiking, and in winter the island attracts fans of event tourism who come to the enchanting Winter Carnival.

No matter what time of year the trip falls, visitors to the island should definitely get acquainted with its priceless sights. The capital of Pag is the city of the same name. A huge number of medieval sights have been preserved on its territory. The most striking among them are the episcopal and princely palaces, both of them were built according to the designs of the famous architect Juraj Dalmatinac and are considered unique architectural monuments of their kind. It is noteworthy that the construction of the episcopal palace was never completed, which in no way detracts from its merits.

Preserved in the capital of the island and ancient religious buildings. A rich collection of priceless artifacts is kept by the Benedictine church of St. Margarita, and one of the oldest religious buildings is the city's cathedral, which was built at the beginning of the 16th century. In the immediate vicinity of the capital there is a rather unusual excursion object - the Peak of St. Yuri. This is the name of an unusual mountain, which has the shape of a regular quadrangle. According to historians, many hundreds of years ago, a fortress was located on a hill, which causes it unusual shape. Copyright www.site

There are also unique sights on the island, the nature of which could not be explained. Among them, the Pag Triangle is a large-scale area of ​​scorched earth, along which there is a very clear and orderly marking. The abundance of mysterious objects never ceases to attract numerous archaeological expeditions to the island of Pag, some areas are now available for visiting by everyone. One of the most interesting is the Tsaska area. During the heyday of the Roman Empire, according to scientists, a large-scale city was located here. The version is confirmed by the water supply systems discovered by archaeologists, as well as the ruins of huge villas and palaces.

Second largest locality Islands is the city of Novalia, it is also very interesting from a sightseeing point of view. most visited cultural object remains the City Museum, whose collection is incredibly interesting and diverse. Among the exhibits on display are priceless archaeological finds, rich ethnographic collections and art collections - the museum will be an ideal place to visit with the whole family.

Nature lovers will be interested in visiting the charming village of Lun, which is famous not only for its attractive beaches, but also for its incredibly beautiful olive groves. In the warm season, vacationers enjoy walking along the picturesque places of the island. It will surely surprise guests with a variety of landscapes. So, travelers associate the nearest suburbs of the capital with lunar landscapes, and incredibly beautiful forests originate very close by. The coastal area of ​​the island is also very beautiful and diverse. There are many interesting natural attractions near the popular beaches.

Fans of active entertainment will be most interested in visiting the island of Pag in the summer, at this time of the year it offers its guests the most entertainment. In the vicinity of the city of Novalja, there is the Zrce beach, which is more like a huge entertainment center under open sky. The beach is well equipped, next to it there are numerous cafes and restaurants, as well as beach and sports equipment rentals. On the territory of the beach there is a water park with many interesting attractions. Even in the summer, open-air concerts are often held on the beach.

Croatia, Pag

general information

The island of Pag was first mentioned in chronicles in the 10th century. This is a very beautiful place near Zadar, where the picturesque beaches of Croatia are located.

To get to the island of Pag from Zagreb or Split, you must first take a bus to Zadar. The ticket costs about 100-200 kunas (from Split/Zagreb). There is a ferry from Zadar to the island that costs about 20 kunas per person. The ticket costs about 40 kunas. To get to Zagreb from Split, you need to take a intercity bus. The fare is about 100 kunas.

Novalja beaches

The city of Novalja is located in the northeastern part of the island of Pag. In its vicinity there are several large beaches, including the popular resort of Zrce, called the "Croatian Ibiza" for its active nightlife.

The beaches of Navallia are mostly equipped with everything you need: sun loungers and umbrellas (on average 50 kunas), showers, changing cabins, cafes and restaurants.

An amazing combination is born on Zrce beach. During the day, family tourists with children bathe here, since the entrance to the sea on the pebble coast is gentle and kids can splash in the water. At night, Zrce turns into one big party where young people who love clubbing gather.

Parties run until early morning. One of the most popular clubs is Aquarius. In addition to music and drive, it offers delicious fresh seafood dishes.

Just 2 km from Zrce is Gajac beach. Its shore is strewn with small pebbles. From here opens scenic view on the sea and rocky coast.

The Rucica beach near the resort village of Metajna is also famous for its natural beauty, where you can watch some of the most beautiful sunsets on the island of Pag. There is a small bay, not far from which you can dine in a beach cafe. It is considered an ideal place for romantic evenings.

One of the best beaches the islands of Pag are Caska. The coast consists of small pebbles and sand, and the sea here is warm and calm. The entrance to the sea is gentle, which makes it convenient for children. There are many cafes and restaurants on the beach with excellent Croatian cuisine.

Sveti Duh beach is one of the most beautiful resorts in Pag. Here, the small-pebble coast meets the sandy bottom, which creates an excellent combination for comfortable swimming.

Straško stretches along the coast of Pag for almost 2 km. Being the most picturesque small-pebble beach of the island, it is also the center of water activities - kayaking, jet skiing and more.

Other beaches on the island of Pag

The picturesque Kukurina beach is located in a cozy harbor and is covered with clean golden sand. Due to the soft entry into the water and the warm sea, it is considered one of the best Pag beaches for families with small children.

Povljana (Povljana) in the south of the island is also the best suited for family vacation. Tall poplars grow here, in the shade of which you can hide from the sun.

Awarded with the Blue Flag for its cleanliness, Trincel Beach impresses not only with its natural beauty, but also with its thoughtful infrastructure. This beach is on the island of Pag, located near the village of Stara Novalja. Toddlers can play on the playground, and adults who come without children can enjoy kayaking or beach volleyball.

Among the hundreds of Croatian islands, Pag can be immediately overlooked. Its large, elongated shape on the map almost merges with the mainland. A very graceful bridge of Pazh is thrown across a narrow strait to the island. So, being in Dalmatia, getting to Pag is not difficult. We traveled around Croatia for only three days. Torn apart by lack of time and a keen desire to see as much as possible, we did not miss the opportunity to visit this island - for us the first, but, I hope, not the last in Croatia.

The first thing that strikes the visitor to Pag is its almost Martian desert landscapes. The terrain here is often devoid of any vegetation. Instead, yellow-brown rocks are scattered in chaotic abundance. This whole picture looks very advantageous against the backdrop of the Velibitsky mountains on the mainland of Croatia opposite the island.

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The first thing that interested us here was the ruins of an ancient fortress from the time the Venetians owned the island. These picturesque ruins are located at the very tip of a sharp cape, protruding towards the narrow strait between Pag and the mainland.

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From here, magnificent panoramas of the Pazhsky Bridge open up. This small fortress was a guard outpost of the Venetian possessions, now reminiscent of the island's far turbulent history. Pag has always been on the border - now between the Venetians and the Turks, now between the Italians and the Austrians, now between the Croats and the Serbs.

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Now locals are trying to lure tourists to the island with their famous Page sheep cheese, special Page lace or original white wine. I must confess plainly that I did not notice where on this most deserted island vineyards grow and fat herds of sheep graze.

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Few now try to remember the dark pages of the island's past. During this short trip I never found out where the Ustasha death camp was located on the island during the Second World War, where thousands of Serbs, Jews and Gypsies were tortured. The Ustaše was a nationalistic organization of Croats with extreme fascist views, which managed to seize power in these parts during the Second World War.

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Croats are trying to forget that war, where their people took an active part, as ardent supporters of Nazi Germany. For their own, already then blood enemies, the Serbs, a special type of knives was even invented - Serboseki, so that cruel executioners could kill as quickly as possible and get tired as little as possible. It seems to me that the last conflict between Croats and Serbs after the collapse of Yugoslavia owes its cruelty precisely to that bloody and inhuman regime of the Ustashe Croats.

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By the way, during this last war in the Balkans, the island of Pag played an important role as a link between the units of the Croatian Liberation Army that were broken by the blockade. Now, peace reigns in Pag.

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In the main city of the island, Pag, everything is conducive to leisurely walks under the bright sun. This cute town looks especially good from the side of the neighboring hill. It stretches along both parts of a narrow bay, gradually turning into a salt lake, where salt mining has flourished for a long time.

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The city of Pag was designed and built more than four centuries ago and has preserved the medieval street layout, and most importantly, the spirit of that time. We saw a city of sleepy calmness of off-season with clean streets and beautiful bright churches.

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Near the city, we visited the ancient Benedictine convent of St. Margaret. Even the ruins of several buildings seemed to us there somehow very well-groomed. This unusual cleanliness for a southern country never ceased to amaze us during our short trip to Croatia.

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Fun lovers ride Pag during high season tourist city to another town on the island - Novalja. We also visited there and were surprised at its emptiness. Indeed, during the season, the city announces itself almost as a Croatian “Ibiza”.

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It was in Novalja that the story of finding a bundle of money happened to us, which I already talked about in one of my earlier posts about Croatia.

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Without further ado, it is worth saying that Pug - amazing place, ready to please lovers of desert landscapes, solitude and relaxation away from civilization. Those who are not indifferent to this can find their Croatian paradise here...

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Useful information for tourists about the island of Pag in Croatia - geographical position, tourist infrastructure, map, architectural features and attractions.

The island of Pag belongs to Croatia and is located in the Adriatic Sea. Pag is the fifth largest island in Croatia and the sixth largest in terms of population. Its area is 284.56 sq. km. The width of the island varies in different places from two to ten kilometers, the length of Pag is about 60 kilometers. The island is elongated from the southeast to the northwest. It has two cities: Novalja (in the north of the island) and Pag (in the central part). Pag is connected to the mainland by a bridge in the southwest of the island and ferry crossing Recognition-Zhiglen in the north.

The population of the island is engaged in agriculture and fishing. Most of the residents are employed in the tourism business. Unlike the rest of the Dalmatian islands, Pag does not grow grapes, but breeds sheep. Also on the island are engaged in salt mining and lace weaving.

The name Pag was first mentioned in the 10th century. In 976, the island was conquered from Byzantium by the Croatian king Stepan Drzhislav. From 1244, the Croatian-Hungarian king Bela IV proclaimed Pag a free kingdom. From 1403 until the end of the 18th century, the island belonged to the Venetians. In 1815, the island of Pag, like the entire Dalmatian coast, was annexed to Austria. The Italian occupation lasted on Pag from 1918 to 1921. At the end of the First World War, the island was ceded to Yugoslavia. From June to August 1941, almost 16,000 prisoners passed through the Ustasha death camp located on Pag. When Yugoslavia broke up, Pag became one of the islands of independent Croatia.

The city of Pag is an example of urban planning from the Middle Ages. It is worth seeing the Prince's, as well as the unfinished Bishop's palaces, built on the basis of the drawings of Juraj Dalmatinac. The Benedictine church of St. Margaret and the city's cathedral, built in the early 16th century, are also popular. tourist places.

In Novalja, once called the Croatian Ibiza, there are beaches and noisy discos.

On the coast of the island of Pag near Novalja is the most popular beach Zrce. It has everything you need to relax. Zrche is also equipped with special devices for people with disabilities.

Sveti Duh - the pebble beach of Novalja. The shore is covered with pebbles, the bottom of the sea is covered with fine sand. The shallow depth makes the beach safe for small children. There are also football and badminton courts. On the fenced off part of the beach, nudists can relax without embarrassing anyone.

To the east of Novalja is another popular sand beach called Casca. However, the entrance to the water is covered with pebbles. To the south of Novalja there is a one and a half kilometer pebble beach Strasko with a sandy bottom.

The sea at the Kukurina beach located in the harbor warms up well. The beach is characterized by golden sand and a soft entry into the water. In the south of the island of Pag is the Povljana beach, surrounded by poplars.

There are over 1000 islands in Croatia. And many of them are included in the ratings of the most beautiful places on the ground. We have been to many, because of one (the island of Mljet) we even fell in love with Croatia forever.

But I will tell you about an unobvious choice for a seaside holiday - about the island of Pag.

Our friends Maya and Rinaldo have an old house on the island of Pag. From Zagreb 4 hours drive - and you are in a medieval city.

Pag - an island in central Dalmatia - was described to us as a lunar landscape. Without trees, with sparse gray grass and sadly wandering sheep.

In places it is.

The island is located opposite the Velebit mountain, from which a strong cold bura wind blows almost all year round. Because of it (and also because the Venetians selflessly cut down trees on Paga for the construction of Venice for years), there are few trees on the island.

But we also found coniferous groves, and olive orchards, and lavender fields.

And there are many more excellent beaches, places for diving and wakeboarding, ancient white cities. Pag has the longest coastline in the Adriatic Sea - 270 kilometers.

City of Pag

We lived in the capital of the island - the city of the same name, Pag. Old 3-storey house around the corner from cathedral, photos of Maya's grandparents, a shabby sideboard with a manual coffee grinder and cups. In the morning we went to a nearby bakery for fresh pastries, brewed coffee, took out an old wooden table and two chairs to the courtyard with a medieval well. Greeted neighbors and read old newspapers. 10 meters to the right - central square city ​​with a cathedral and souvenir shops. 20 meters to the left - the embankment with the smell of coffee and screaming seagulls.

In early June, rare tourists wandered along the embankment, locals drilled something and completed construction in cafes and shops. We love to come to the sea on the eve or after the season. You know how a child likes to stay late in kindergarten, to play with all the toys alone.

In the evening we sat on the embankment, drinking cold white wine, eating Pag cheese and looking at the water.

Photo credit: croatia-apartments-pag.com

In total, there are two cities on the island of Pag (Pag and Novalja), several villages (Shimuni, Kolan, Lun) and about 8 thousand inhabitants. In summer, their number grows 5-6 times thanks to waiters, cooks, sellers, workers of marinas (yacht parking), who come from the continental part of Croatia to work.

The island of Pag became a tourist island after 1968, when a bridge was built between it and the mainland.

The season on the Croatian islands is short - from mid-June to mid-September. Although warm and you can swim until the end of October.

The main tourists are neighbors: Germans, Italians, Austrians, Slovenes. At Pag we also met guests from Poland, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Britain. When Croatia joined the European Union in 2013, the number of European tourists began to grow faster and faster every year. Although, as friends say, modern Croatia is still far from the Yugoslav scale of tourism.

Croats are hospitable hosts. Diligent, friendly and open. Their roads are in perfect order, and the food in restaurants is always fresh.

And they are very creatively expanding the boundaries of the tourist season, so that there is a reason to come in March and November. Yachting, cool music festivals, gastronomic tourism, sport. in winter and in early spring many cities have revived traditional carnivals. Istria has become a training ground for tennis and cycling teams. Dalmatia is a longtime destination for cruise liners.

But back to Pag.

The symbols of the island are the famous Pag sheep cheese, the ancient art of weaving lace, the Bashkotin cookies baked by the nuns of the Benedictine monastery, and the Zrce beach - “Croatian Ibiza”.

In addition, the inhabitants of Pag are engaged in the extraction of salt, produce olive oil, and supply lamb to the continent.

Lamb is generally the main food of Pag

Photo credit: finirecepti.net.hr, petbunara.com

The ratio is as follows: for 8,000 inhabitants of the island, 40,000 sheep. Maya told how the poor people of Pag used to say to their guests: “Sorry, we have almost nothing to treat you with, only baked lamb, prosciutto and cheese.” Ironic by modern standards, because now these are the most expensive products in Croatia☺.

Pagian cheese

Pag sheep cheese is famous for its specific rich taste, as sheep eat a lot of wild aromatic herbs (sage, immortelle, fennel, cistus).

Photo credit: gligora.com

It costs more than Parmigiano Reggiano because Page sheep produce little milk. Considered the best souvenir from Croatia. Delicious.

Photo credit: facebook.com/paskasirana.hr

There are 2 main cheese dairies on the island ( Sirana), their cheese can also be bought in supermarkets in Zagreb:

• Paška Sirana - they have been working for 65 years and they are the ones who made Paška cheese famous

Bashkotin

Paški baškotin is a UNESCO-protected biscuit recipe that has been baked in complete silence by the nuns of the Benedictine monastery of St.

Photo credit: archive.nacional.hr, zadarskilist.hr

I don’t know how it was at the height of the season, but at the beginning of June, the nuns had a whole quest to buy that same cookie. The town of Pag seems to be very small, there seems to be a pointer to the monastery of St. Margaret too. But go find him in the narrow streets. This is not a large monastery visible from afar, but a small white church building among others of the same kind. All doors are closed. If you go around the building and think, you can find a door with a bell. Call several times. And almost already to leave, as an unfriendly, dry nun looks out into the crack and sternly asks: “What do you want?” I say: "A little Bashkotin." She took 15 kunas, slipped a bag through the revolving window and disappeared. And then a spoiler. Mysterious bashkotin are rather tasteless large crackers. All.

Lace

I am not a fan of such souvenirs. But Archduchess Maria Theresa was. And at court she kept a lace-maker from Pag.

Photo credit: croatia.org

It is believed that Pagian lace art came from the Greek Mycenae. The first mention of Pag lace (Paška čipka, "chipka" - this is lace in Croatian) is found in documents of the 15th century. Of course, again, it was not without the nuns of the Benedictine monastery. They created a lace school. And over the past 150 years, a large collection of lace has been collected in the monastery.

At an exhibition in Paris in 1937, craftsmen from Pag received a gold medal for an extremely valuable craft. Today, lace is recognized as an object of Croatian cultural heritage and a UNESCO World Intangible Cultural Heritage Site.

Zrce beach - Croatian Ibiza

We were on the most famous party beach in Croatia in early June, so there were almost no people.

But in July-August, Zrce turns into one endless dance floor. Festivals, parties, performances by world DJs.

Photo credit: zrce.com

Where to live in Pag (this is not an advertisement :)

Not far from the city of Novalja and the party beach Zrce, we visited our friend from the Kul In culinary school, the chef Nikola, who works in the winter in the city of Bjelovar in the central part of Croatia, 70 km from Zagreb. And in the summer - in the restaurant of the small hotel complex Barbati on Pag, which also belongs to his employer. I don’t know the owner, he doesn’t pay me for advertising :) I tell you what and where I like.

Photo credit: barbati.hr

We love that Nicola has been working for the same person for many years. Such loyalty is a good trait of Croats. The main thing for them is respect from the employer. The attitude “I am the boss, you are a fool” is unacceptable here.

We liked the restaurant and the Barbati complex itself.

The restaurant has a very clean kitchen (we pay attention to this first thing, of course), an understandable menu with Croatian and international dishes (octopus salad, pizza, pasta, steaks, a lot of grilled fish) and normal prices.

Photo credit: barbati.hr

The complex has 15 apartments. Everywhere is very clean and well designed.

Photo credit: barbati.hr

Own SPA, small pool, beach bar. All this on the first line of the sea. Nice place. In a few years we plan to open something similar.