Day 88 Pag, Nin and Vir...

Sunday 17/06/2018 Apartments Cirjak 411 Sveti Petar na moru, Sveti Petar, 23207, Croatia

Another day to head out and see the area. Today we head to Pag, first then to Nin and lastly to Vir!!!!
Good thing they all have little names!
The trip to a Pag was to say the least unreal... the landscape just so Arid, Bare and Barron.... yet it had a magic about it... the barrenness against the blue water makes a striking balance... rugged, raw and yet full of life, but not in the sense of plants or animals in the sense of raw beauty you have to see to appreciate.... The massive high bridge that joins the mainland to Pag island is unreal in itself, then to see an old fortress ruins in the edge if the terrain just above the sea looks surreal... it did remind us so much of Jordan, the same coloured room and landscape.

Stopping just before we crossed the bridge and looking at the whole picture was breath taking... such a big difference this landscape compared to the limestone landscape just up the road and everywhere we have been...

We headed over the road to Fort after looking around on the fore side of the bridge, the fortress was afterdeck of the bridge. Down the bottom of the hill where the road goes to the fort you could see Fish farms in the ocean and guys building more of them out if black poly pipe, actually looked very interesting... The fort you could see has had some restoration done to it, but not a lot left intact to what it would have once been! Worth a look that’s for sure... we were the only ones there until just before we heard off then others arrived, not being big it was great to explore it without having to push through the hordes as with so much stuff to see when travelling. So having seen we headed to the car, wild cats are everywhere here and in this area particularly, I spot 3 plastic plates with water someone had put out for them, bit different to home where they now have a bounty on their heads...

Along the road as we make our way to Pag, are signs everywhere locals selling cheese and honey... big thing here and as we drive into Pag all along the coastal side are settling ponds for salt mining....

Getting into Pag we soon realise it’s only small... and very quaint... little alleys everywhere, most of them we didn’t get to see at all, due to time... We wandered a bit then had a cuppa, again the shop only sells drinks , some headed to a small bakery across, from us... she had a few different items, then I spot what looked like a Lamington, I asked the lady if this is a Lamington, ohh no she says... it is Croatian cake, I explain what a Lamington is and how it’s made... no she said is different and made different,.. I buy a couple if items than tell her to add the non Lamington to the goodies... as soon as I bit into it with my coffee I realise yes it is a Lamington... I google how to make it on you tube and take it and show her, she smiles sweetly and thanks me, but I am sure ready to end my days for daring to say it was a Lamington... only difference was the cake was a bit heavier than our Lamington.... John and I shared it and I kept the other good for later!

On we went for a wander, finding, little shops mainly for the tourist everywhere... a town square with a church in the middle of it... restaurants, cafes all the touristy things to do and see... we just wandered through checking sights as we went, to the other side of the village along the main waterfront area where all the boats where to take you cruising the inlets, small boats 🚣‍♂️ hiring and pontoon type boats that looked very comfortable... around we go to the side of the village discover a tower behind steel gates... I have since learnt it is the last one if 9 that had been around the city as lookout towers to protect the city from the advancing Turkish army... all this history is just so interesting, so different to our heritage.... we find a foot bridge over the waterway to a slay museum, but too much to go in and having dine one in Germany we felt it couldn’t be topped as it was a fantastic one...

Our time was up, so back in the car across the causeway, past the other half of the village and up the mountains to find this illusive church St Nicolas... the Nav said it was in the next village, Kolan... after stoping at he look out on the mountains very high up and seeing an unreal view, we drive in past cheese making, cheese home made signs... then into Kolan, another holiday spot, fishing village with olive trees abounding... when we had come over the top of the range the landscape changed again to green unreal how only a few meters and it can all change so quickly... we look around this village like all the others very quaint, filled like all the others with apartment buildings all fir the summer season vacationers... we follow the Nav to where she kept telling us where the Church is we were looking for, we find it but no it’s not the church we are looking for looks nothing like it... but the Nav insists it is St Nicolas... every time we lunch it in it comes up with this spot... even a pic of the real church but it’s not here... so we turn around, head back to Pag, have lunch next to the pebble beach to watch the goings on... which was entertaining to say the least all the ladies of every size and shape and age in their bikinis.... John was in his element I am sure with some bodies, but some others were’t really most men’s type... however I think it’s just great that all these shakes, sizes and ages just do it... and to hec with what people think...

So having had lunch which I quickly bought up... meat just too heavy in my tummy, I can’t cope... then off we set for Nin... it wasn’t too far away, and was another small island, smaller than Pag, very differ to Pag but just as quaint and interesting... worth coming to that’s for sure... the poor place had, had a bad flood in 2017 and it washed centuries old bridges apart that lead into the village... one a foot bridge the other a driving bridge... looked sad after all this Centuries to see the destruction I has caused. It went over the whole island it’s not big but the mess it must have made would have been heartbreaking...

We looked at the Church in the middle of town, with Roman ruins around it... it was an unreal little Cathedral apparently the smallest in Europe. It is rounded shaped church called the Church of the Holy Cross 9th century surround by Roman! Next to here was the The Statue is Grgur Ninski Gregory of Nin and if you rub his toes will bring you luck, hence he has shiny toes! John didn’t rub his toes, but watch this girl who did then taking selfies with her hand oh old Greg’s toes... guess she felt he dud bring droid luck... from her Bell Tower of one of the church’s in Nin, St Anselm 6th-8th Century! I quickly went in took a could if pics then out... John was on a mission again.. we walked last tourist stalls, local restaurants and cafes all such a shame we didn’t have longer.l. After we had looked around we walked around the island you could see how much work has been put into making the island look amazing again... We could see a backhoe putting more dirt into the bay looked like they were making a barrier to protect the island, but in the mean time it also become beach for the locals to sit on , there were already some wooden change huts like Brighton in UK and Brighton near Melbourne.. not as colourful though...

The path around the island took us past little boats for hire and some looked like they were still water logged with logs in them from the big floods....

Around the island was parts of the fortified city walls some had now become people’s fences... looked funny seeing a fortified city wall with a normal house and house block kind of surreal....

Sadly out time was up, we walked back past lovely little restaurants with so much character it seemed a shame we couldn’t stop... but on we must go... onto Vir our last port of call... we had looked fir St Nicolas Church at Nin without any luck... Vir like the rest is filled with apartments, for the season to rent... not a quaint as the last 2 places looks older and more run down, but by accident we spotted a sign that had a Castle sign on it, so we set off to find it... and find it we did... get there was along a rough dirt track but once found, it was interesting... managed to get inside the bottom of the tower,that is intact, but looked like it had been restored at some point. I read later that it was in 2001-2002 restoration was made to it...the Venetians had built it to protect the city from the advancing Turks... John even found a Geocache here as well. The colour of the water around it was just magic so clear and inviting , but we had to get back... sadly all coming to an end...

As we drove out of town we spot the allusive church we had been looking for, it was part of Nin, not Vir but had to be reached by us going nearly in a circle to get to it....

As this was our last stop for the day I had hoped it would be just us as it was getting, late and hoped no others nut yep there were, a family of Mum, teen daughter and Son and maybe boyfriend... well this is the 4 or 5th time I had dealt with vain girls, she was out to pose every pose you could think of for the perfect the pic... she could see and so could mum I was waiting patiently to get my pic, I would have taken 3 sec but no I stood on the Hill slant of the mound where the church is set, waiting, waiting, waiting, she got who else but Mum to take the pics, then check it out, check it, take one check it and so on... this went for over 10 mins which is a fair amount of time on a hill... I would have walked away, but for half the day I had been trying to find this place to get my pics and be darned if I was going to walk away for some princess 👸 wanting to look perfect...

I am sure the girls these days are getting worse with ME syndrome, they are so vain and so full of self importance and parents are encouraging them to be No1 and be full of me Miss princess... they have no regard for anyone but themselves... I have been watching them for the past 10 weeks preen and beautify themselves all for that perfect shot of me and I am over them... that an older Asian women who push you out if the way... I think travelling is making me cynical instead of more compassionate...

This afternoon just finished me with this girls attitude and her mum encouraging her.... sad world we are facing its not just in Aust it’s everywhere... the ME syndrome....

Finally got my pic then headed off.... had to get some stores from the supermarket, so hit it before heading home, for you guessed it leftovers hooray 😁.... John in his element... Not,....

Great day if sights, lived all,these little villages they have so much to offer... rich history, amazing sights, great cafes and restaurants... quaint feel to the area and at present not too busy, but that will change... you can see Day to Day here things are hitting up, more and more units opening up, people walking around, both beach bars across from us getting organised now... not as quite as it was when we arrived... gather as we leave this place fills up... trouble is we can’t leave it behind as before it will be everywhere.Okumaya devam et