Going on a safari in Croatia?

Access to the Brijuni National park was via a 15 minute ferry ride from the town of Fazana.

I believe the ferry left every hour, but we had an 11:30am reservation. After paying the entrance fee, 200 kunas ($40) or 50% for Croatian citizens, which included the ferry ride, we waited to join the 4 hour excursion tour with an expert guide.


Town of Fazana, here you can purchase your tickets. We were an hour early so we walked around for a few souvenirs.

Located along the south-west coast of the Istrian peninsula, the 14 islands were proclaimed a national park four years after Tito's death in 1980, the former Yugoslavian socialist leader. The public was allowed to set foot on Brijuni for the first time since the outbreak of malaria which led to its evacuation hundreds of years earlier.

According to its history, back then an Austrian industrialist purchased the islands in 1893 and hired a Nobel Prize-winning bacteriologist to eradicate the disease with quinine.

The main island was then turned into an exotic retreat with fresh water and electricity, the landscape was transformed with villas, lawns and gardens, sub-tropical trees, a zoo, and the first 18-hole golf course in Europe.

"By the time Tito came to power, the Depression, Italian rule and the war had taken their toll, but he declared the islands his official summer residence and set about recreating their former splendour."

From the early 1950s until 1979 the Brijuni islands were Tito's private playground. He spent six months of the year on the islands enjoying a lifestyle of luxury unimaginable to many people.

His guest list included Sophia Loren, Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Gina Lollobrigida, and Queen Elizabeth II to only name a few. And his gift list was just as extensive including a 1950s Cadillac from former president Dwight Eisenhower.

And I got to drive it!! OK not really, since the cost to drive it was $600 dollars for half-an hour, who has that kind of money? But I was allowed to take a photo.

Meet Lanka, gift from India's then Prime Minister, Indira Ghandi.

Sightseeing the island's natural beauty via a tourist train and visiting the natural-science collection and photo museum, and the zoo (but our tourist guide called it a safari?)

After that we were free to walk around the island.

One of my favorite paths, nostalgic right?

It was calculated through carbon analysis that this olive tree is 1600 years old!!!



You could also rent a bicycle for 160 kunas a day.

Well, it was time to catch our ferry back to Fazana, we still had to stop in Pula to see the grand amphitheater.

So what do you think? I was quite impressed with the island, although it was sad to see the villas deteriorating, although they are still being used by the government, no residents are allowed to stay overnight, only tourists staying on one of the hotels.

Greetings from the Island of Pag

This week we drove along the Adriatic coast and saw many of its beautiful natural beaches.

One of them was on the Island of Pag.

The sea was clean with its sand/pebble beaches easily accessible via car or ferry lines. We chose to drive and crossed the bridge near the town of Zadar.

A friend of the family has a summer home and we had an open invitation to stay as many days as we wanted to. We couldn't resist the offer so we spent two days exploring the island. But first lets do some cleaning.
We learned that Pag is the fifth largest island with 270 kilometers of coastline, rich with coves, bays, beaches and capes. It is also unique due to its vegetation, trees seldom grow here. Finally, the island is well known for the production of salt and Pag cheese (Paski Sir).

As we drove to the town of Novalja we found a lady selling the famous cheese. The price was 165 kunas (about 32 dollars) per kilogram and each wheel of cheese was about 2 kilograms. A bit pricey you may say but its taste is unique. Let me tell you what I learned.The Bura, a cold wind, blows from the steep slopes of the Velebit Mountains and blasts across the sea and lifts billions of drops of sea dust, salt and water, and carries them into the air through the Pag fields salting the stones, meadows and fields. The sheep feed from these fields and thus gives the milk its special flavor.In addition, the bura wind also affects the flora of the island. The island's plants and bushes smell beautifully as you can find sage, cypress spurge, wild-oat, araceae and many other aromatic plants. This is pure delight for the Pag sheep.

Its characteristically piquant taste, particular smell, and mildly grained texture makes it one of the best cheeses in Croatia and the world. In fact even Beli asked for more "pash-ke seer." We bought a more mature cheese (about 12 months old) and when grated tasted a bit like Parmesan.
We were sad to leave such a beautiful and memorable place but we had our next destination to visit, the Brijuni National Park, situated about 4 hours north of Pag. We had to get an early start the following day to make it to our 11:30am excursion.