Week 36: Back to Pac...
- May 9, 2022
- 6 min read
Our stops this week:
One night at Camping Skver (near Senj)
Four nights at Terra Park Phalaris Camping (near Novalja)
One night at Simuni Camping Village (in Simuni)
One night at Autokamp Marko (in Starigrad)
On Monday morning we set off leaving the island of Krk behind and heading for another Island a little further south called Pag (pronounced Pac). Like Krk, there is a bridge over to Pag but it was a much shorter and quicker route for us to catch a ferry. After the long traffic jam leaving the island of Krk, we decided to break up the trip and spend a night on the mainland, in the town of Senj, before setting off early(ish) the next morning to catch the ferry.
The view from our stop in Senj, don't think we could get much closer to the water!
The ferry crossing was very smooth and straight forward, aside from the noise of the engines it was hard to tell from inside the van that the ferry was even moving. Yvette isn’t a fan of ferries (or any boats really) so she sat in the van with Bear, while I went for a quick walk around the boat. When the ferry docked in Pag the front ramp was lowered and the race started… disembarking was a bit of a free for all, with four lanes of queuing cars, vans and lorries vying for position… as usual we weren’t in a rush so we let the less patient travellers go past… it was a first for us, being overtaken on a ferry whilst driving and trying very hard to keep inside our lane which was just a few inches wider than the van.
When we arrived in Pag the landscape looked like we'd landed on the moon, but it soon changed and was much greener on the other side of the island.
The first campsite in Pag was great, the road in was a bit hairy, less of a road and more of a track, but it didn’t take long, and we arrived to find a very peaceful campsite with its own beach and just a handful of other people staying there. We only planned to stay a couple of nights, but we ended up staying for four. The area felt very remote and wild, although it was only 6km from the nearest town of Novalja, it was the perfect sort of place for us, lots of wildlife and total peace and quiet.
Most days we went paddle-boarding, the beach was just meters away from the pitch, so it was no effort at all to get out on the water. Although it’s been warm and sunny the water is still cold, which is a good incentive not to fall in, although a stray wave did very nearly knock me off the board, while I was distracted looking at some fish! Somehow I managed to land on the board and not fall off... Yvette was too busy trying to balance on her own board to laugh at me!
I’ve actually been to Pag before, when I was 5 years old, so around 35 years ago... wow that makes me feel old! Here is a picture of me and mum with some of our Austrian family and friends...
When we left the first campsite on Pag, we made a quick stop-off to visit one of the many cheese-shops on the island, Pag cheese is claimed to be world famous, although I don’t think I’ve heard of it before. Apparently, the strong winds here blow salt water across the fields which the sheep graze on, so the cheese they produce has a salty and distinct flavour. The lady in the cheese shop explained the various cheese options, goat, sheep, cow, goat and sheep, goat and cow… you get the picture. The older the cheese the better the flavour, so we went for a small piece of two-year-old traditional sheep cheese… Yvette nearly passed out when she saw the price but at least she likes it, I’m not convinced it just tastes like parmesan to me!
Did someone say "Cheese"...?
We’ve mentioned before how big some of the campsites are here in Croatia, well the next one was bigger than anywhere we’ve been before! It was called Simuni Camping Village, but it should be called a city not a village!
We should have guessed it was a big place when they offered to show us around in a golf buggy! We took Bear for a walk around the campsite and covered almost 3 kilometres!
The campsite is really a resort with everything you can imagine, from restaurants, shops, bars, kids clubs, sports facilities, even a hairdressing salon, although at this time of year most things are either shut-down, or open for just a few hours each day as the place is virtually deserted. Again we planned to stay for a couple of nights but we ended up leaving after just one… during the day the campsite was very quiet, there was hardly anyone staying there and it was so vast that you could wander around for ages without seeing anyone. In the evening we went out for a stroll, had a beer at the beach bar (we were the only customers) and picked up a crepe and ate it on the beach....it all seemed very peaceful, however at around 10.30pm the bar started playing very loud music which went on until around 2.30am, despite not having any customers! The next morning, feeling a little sleep deprived and grumpy we decided to move on and leave the party "village" behind.
We already had our next stop in mind, so it didn’t take long to pack up the van and hit the road… we drove for about an hour, taking the bridge this time, instead of the ferry back to the mainland and then travelling slightly back on ourselves (north) to the town of Starigrad.
So far we’ve spent most of our time in Croatia on, or near the coast, which isn’t surprising given the beautiful coastline and all the islands to choose from, but we also want to visit a few of national parks here, and Starigrad is right on the edge of the Paklenica National Park… we arrived on Sunday afternoon at Autocamp Marko, which is much more our sort of campsite… it’s basically someone’s garden with space for about 8 pitches. It's mainly walkers and climbers staying here, as it’s one of the closest campsites to the entrance of the national park. We did a quick recce and walked up to the national park entrance on Sunday but it was too late in the day, and too hot to start a long walk, so we decided to have an early night... catch-up on some sleep and make an early start on Monday for a walk into the park.
And what a great walk... we set-off around 8am to make a start before the day warmed up too much, by then most of the other campers had already left for the day, loaded with backpacks full of ropes and climbing equipment, they clearly had a more serious trip planned than us. It took us about 15 minutes to reach the entrance to the park, where we bought tickets and the park ranger suggested a good route up through the valley.
The park was spectacular... we covered about 12 kilometres, Bear did really well and was rewarded with a dip in the stream to cool off...
We found some interesting wildlife in the park...
I asked a park ranger what the animal is (in the middle picture)... he replied "it's something like a mouse that lives in the trees"... I'm not convinced, but it was very sweet and Bear liked it! The donkey seemed to be carrying supplies to one of the hostels in the park, despite the sad expression he looked in good condition and seemed to be well cared for.
We also spotted a couple of snakes, a small black and white one... and another much much bigger brown one... but we didn't stop to take photos!
Our final campsite for the week... and unusually some English neighbours! The view from the other side isn't so nice... it looks like a caravan was abandoned there in the 1960's and some of the local wildlife might has moved in!
Enjoying some peace and tranquillity in the national park... next time we'll take two blankets as Bear wasn't keen on sharing his!
Generally the roads in Croatia are great, smooth, wide, no potholes, and very little traffic... but the minor roads frequently turn into unpaved tracks... this one is still a 'proper' road leading to a small harbour and a few houses!
A better example of the roads in Croatia... they love a hairpin bend!
Some "glamping" tents on one of the campsites... Yvette thinks some wild lions had been to stay!
One final pic for this week... Yvette has started her next study module and Bear is supervising to make sure she meets all her deadlines!
First of all Happy Birthday Steve ! Looks amazing in Croatia it is so lovely and green.
I love the picture of you Ive seen that look before!!!
Anyway enjoy thank you for my lovely card (I got 2) love the picture of Bear. See you soon . Take care all of you
Anne xxx