A Taste Croatia Day
Today was one of those days that reinforce why I love to travel and one of those days when things are in the flow.
It started with a free upgrade on my rental car, for a trip to Pag Island.
Then I drove to the very end of the island, to Lun, as suggested by Toni Herenda of Gligora Cheese, with whom I had a wonderful and informative meeting last week. And if it’s recommended, I try to go, not really asking what to do or why. He said it was beautiful and special, so I went.
That didn’t stop me from making up my own expectation, which was a cute little beach town. What I found was the Olive Gardens of Lun, a huge surprise because I didn’t know that olive trees even grew on Pag.
I stopped into the Olive Gardens information center, and there was met by someone who clearly enjoys his job and joking 🙂 If I would ever need to hire someone to keep the mood light somewhere, he would be the guy. Luckily, for every funny answer he gave to a question (almost every one), there was someone else to give the real answer. He did offer to sell me some fog, which apparently is a constant there, but having lived in San Francisco for so many years, I had already had my fair share.
The Olive Gardens is a very interesting project. About 85 families have their own little shareholding, each with maybe 8-10 trees, which explains all the little stone-wall surrounded plots. They no longer live there, but now live in the village and tend the trees and pick the olives to make their own olive oil, in the mill in the village. In a good year, they will post signs by their houses for olive oil to sell. But with the weather (fog!), it’s a good year only every 3 or 4. So no Pag olive oil for me.
Next stop was to meet with Å ime Pernjak of MIH Sirana, in Kolan. He spent almost two hours with me, telling me about sheep farming and production of Paski Sir, the Pag cheese, which was the reason for my visit. But I also learned so much from him, about living on the island, and in the village, and his life. It really became a philosophical discussion, with cheese as the example.
I left feeling very happy, energetic and also thoughtful.
And apparently lucky, because I not only found Degarra Winery but arrived when I was able to taste wine. Mauro and Kuzme poured me the first Zadar sparkling wine, made from Posip grapes, followed by the Rose, named Perla and made from Plavina grapes, then Bonterra from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Shiraz and finally the dessert wine, named Bomary, whose name comes from its ingredients: Bonterra wine, Maraska (sour cherry) and the Y for joy!!
They also introduced me to a local fig jam product, which is eco-certified, sparking a conversation about certifications for growing practices and organic vs biodynamic with one of the owners of Degarra, Mate. Again, it was very illuminating and reinforces my feelings about how the food source, in general, is very clean and unadulterated in Croatia. And it is certainly obvious tasting anything here.
And, my somewhat bad habit of staying too long (or talking too much, depending on how you look at it) resulted in some eating recommendations and also some pizza place recommendations. So I have some “work” to do as a follow-up.
My overall feeling at the end of the day is how much fun and invigorating it is to spend time with people who love what they do and are passionate about creating the best.