Renovation of a Venetian bridge

When you drive from Zadar to the island of Pag, you will see this scene: bare islands of white rock, contrasting with the brilliant blue sea.
Pag is not the most touristic Croatian island, but it is a very nice and unusual place. Looking at the surroundings, one wouldn't expect to find on Pag the one and only Venetian bridge outside Venice (that's what I read, though such statements need to be treated with caution). I actually saw the bridge when I visited Pag town, but I must admit that I didn't take a picture. The bridge didn't look anything special. On the contrary, it looked nondescript. The 15th century monument was in a deplorable state.
Work has begun to restore the bridge to its former glory. The future looks less bright for two things that come to Croatian minds when Pag is mentioned. One is paški sir, the other paški sol. Paški sir is sheep cheese, a protected brand by Croatian but not European law. Croats are afraid that others might produce cheese and call it paški sir. I am not sure that will happen. Most of the protected Croatian brands are unknown outside of Croatia. Who has, for example, heard of drniški pršut or baški baškot? And paški sol? Well, it's actually salt from Tunisia.

0 reacties: