June 26, 2019 – BBC Travel discovers one of the culinary secrets of one of Europe’s most unusual islands – Pag.
It is not often that Croatia is featured on the BBC homepage – unless we are talking about World Cup sporting success, of course.
And how nice to see today’s feature focusing on one of Croatia’s most fascinating island’s – Pag.
Home to the strongest winds on the coast, the finest lamb in all Croatia, an olive grove with more than 1,000 trees each over a thousand years old, its own UFO landing site, the party – and salt – capital of Croatia, as well as a handful of UNESCO lace – the list goes on.
And cheese. In the words of the late, great Anthony Bourdain – ‘world-class cheese.’
Here is the opening to the BBC feature on the cheese of Pag:
The bus driver shook his head. “Zatvoren,” he said, looking at my ticket to Pag. “Closed.”The bus driver shook his head. “Zatvoren,” he said, looking at my ticket to Pag. “Closed.”
I was scheduled to travel to Pag, a barren, moonscape-like island off Croatia’s northern Dalmatian coast, but the bridge was closed. Paški most – the bridge connecting the island to the mainland – is the only point of entry by road, and the bura, a powerful north-eastern wind, thwarted my plans.
The bura (also known as bora) can reach hurricane-strength speeds; its 2004 record in the Dalmatian city of Split was 174.6km/h. Its mighty gusts define Pag and its famous cheese, Paški sir, dusting wild herb-filled pastures with Adriatic sea salt, which gives the sheep’s milk a unique flavour. Robust, salt-coated aromatic herbs – including sage, sea fennel, St John’s Wort, immortelle and thyme – are a treat for the sheep.
To read the full story, click here.
TCN did a recent tour of the two main cheese factories on the island – learn more about the island’s cheese story.
To learn more about his incredible island, check out the Total Croatia Pag in a Page guide.
