Crossing the bridge from the mainland of Croatia to the Island of Pag feels like landing on another planet. The ecology of the island presents a radical departure from that of the mainland and the vast majority of the country‘s thousands of other islands. Semi-forested grass and shrub-Land give way to a windswept landscape of barren rock.

The air is salty, the winds blow hard, the views are unimpeded, and shade becomes a commodity.

As our travel companion Amerigo put it, “It’s like if you imagine that Yugoslavia had a really successful space program in the 1970’s, and Tito’s astronauts made it to Mars. 40 years later, this is the colony - the whole place seems treacherous, but there is cheese and wine, and lamb roasted on the spit.”