Cheese

Ancient Illryian Fort overlooking Sirana Gligora

By Simon on | From simonkerr.wordpress.com

Image via Wikipedia

Sitting on gentle slopes overlooking the most fertile ground that the Island of Pag has to offer, Sirana Gligora’s (Gligora Dairy) cheese tasting room offers great views across the northern half of the island for guests who take our Cheese Tasting Tour.

Nestling amongst rocky hills, these fertile pastures provide the heartland of Pag’s agricultural industry and it was something must have been spotted by the Illyrian Tribes who were the first to settle on the island of Pag

As I often point out to our guests, there’s an ancient Illyrian fort overlooking Gligora Dairy which is only a short 30 minute walk from the main road, so I thought it was about time I took a walk to see this place for myself and in true English fashion, I chose to hottest day of the year to venture out.

A sheep trail snakes its way up the hill side from the main road in Kolan which will take me almost to the summit, but before I leave the comfort of the road a look back reveals this great view of Sirana Gligora. I’d not even started to scale to rocky hill side yet so I was pretty optimistic for the views I might find at the top.

Once on the path I’m scanning the ground for any sign of snakes of which there are 3 breeds on Pag that I know about, one of which, the European Horned Viper, is the most poisonous snake in Europe.

Lucky for me I only find on this trip is this little fellow on the way up.

Almost at the top now and the panorama begins to open out, time to leave the path and head on over the rocks to the left.

Looking back at Gligora Dairy from the summit. Island Škrda and Lošinj in the distance.

Part of the old rock fort wall built by the Illyrians, overlooking the northern part of the Island of Pag. Time to sit down and enjoy the views.

Circling the encampment reveals a very basic fort but one which must have been quite effective. Can you imagine attacking from here under a hail of murderous boulders and rocks? No wonder the Romans eventually assimilated the Illyrians on Pag rather than risk serious injury and certain death.

At the top it’s just weather beaten limestone.

But looking at the size of the walls the defense walls there must have been something up here worth protecting… The original recipe for Paški Sir perhaps?

Or just these stunning views…

One last look around before I leave and I find this guys. There’s some 55,000 Pag sheep, or Paška Ovca, on the island but at this time of year you wont see many and this is the reason why, hiding from the midday sun.

My favorite view, the bay of Pag. You can take a better look at this photo and the others on our Facebook page Love Paški Sir

Time to head down to the crystal clear sea for a well earned swim.

And look who’s waiting for me at the bottom. That looks remarkable like one of Roman Abromavic’s yacht’s ‘le grand bleu’. I found out later through our partners Yacht Gourmet Croatia who supply our cheese to many of the luxury yachts in these waters that it is indeed a Russian owned vessel and our fresh cheese ‘Paška Skuta’ was on board. So dobar tek Mr Abromavic, we hope you enjoyed.

For more on the ancient world of Illyrians in Croatia and some great posts and photos about unique locations around the country, I recommend you visit Secret Dalmatia’s blog.

For more about our dairy and cheeses please visit our website www.gligora.com and read about more about our cheeses on this blog.

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For enquiries please send an email to info@gligora.com