Another sunny, warm day was ahead, and we decided the best thing to do was to find a beach with sun loungers and enjoy the day.
We chose Queens beach, so called because tradition says that the wife of the first Croatian king, Tomislav, was especially attracted by its beauty, and so whenever the royal family came to Nin, they would visit this beach to enjoy a few rare and relaxing moments.
The water is extremely shallow and it is sandy so it’s popular with families, especially on a Sunday.
The sea was fine for cooling off, but barely reached the top of my legs so not ideal for swimming, but we still spent a happy day here.
Nearby is medicinal mud which has apparently been used to treat various ailments such as rheumatic diseases, spinal deformities, muscular and skeletal problems and skin issues for decades. The therapy, which usually lasts from ten to twenty days, involves covering the body with the mud, sunbathing on the sandy beach, then rinsing off the mud with warm sea water. This is done in the morning during July and August. We felt pleased this let us off the hook – only one day spare and the wrong month … although some seemed happy to give it a go!
Late afternoon, and we thought we better move on to Pag, the last island on our trip and easy to include as it can be reached by bridge, which we photographed from both sides …
… as well as Fortica, the fort which has been standing over the narrow straight between Pag and the mainland since the Middle Ages.
As we drove across Pag, we could just see a dry landscape with stone walls but little vegetation …
… although there must be sheep here somewhere as the island is famous for its local cheese called paski sir, meaning Pag cheese, which obviously has good marketing as it’s been on the menu everywhere we’ve been. Pag is also famed for its lace and salt production.
We reached Pag Town and I had difficulty spotting our hotel … until I realised is was the quite large one we were parked outside!
We were eager to get inside and wash away the salt and sand of the day, before exploring the town as the sun set …
… then had dinner in a restaurant on the harbour.
In the morning we discovered we were the last visitors at Hotel Zane this season and that they were closing once we had left.
We had time to potter round the town in the daylight …
Maybe it was the rough hewn limestone, the beautifully carved capitols or the lovely painted organ or just the feel of the place, but it struck us that this was the church we liked best all trip.
Suddenly realising the time, we made a bit of a dash for the ferry, just pausing to take a last photo of the town with the salt pans in the distance …
… and ending up the last car to drive onboard before waving Pag, our fifth and final island, goodbye.
Off Travelling Together 