As we always try to develop new tours and programs in all regions of Croatia, our special interest is in shore excursions: how to give the most in limited amount of time.
One of the latest programs is the Pag Cheese tasting at Gligora Dairy in Kolan, on the the island of Pag. Here is how we met and discussed the tour with their manager Simon: Page cheese factory

So we developed a special program for people in Zadar area or cruise ship guests who have interest in something different, unique experiences in Croatia or just great interest in special food and artisan cheeses.

A month or so back, I got an email from Mr. Edward Neusel from USA who was coming to Zadar on a Seabourn Odyssey on the 24th of May and was interested in a private tour for a group of 6. We discussed Krka and a simple walking tour but this ship is in Zadar for such a limited time . Almost draining all our options, I suggested a tour of the cheese factory as well and they accepted our offer.
So, on the 24th, I picked up the group personally in front of the ship and we drove to Kolan. After an hour of scenic drive along the rugged coast of Pag and we were in front of the Gligora dairy.

Simon, the marketing manager and the tour guide extraordinaire, was waiting for us with protective clothing and one more guest who would join our small group. Many of your will recognize celebrity chef Kevin Ashton who is on Pag these days researching the riches of our local cuisine!

The tour of Gligora dairy takes you to all the facilities and introduces you tradition and the future of making of this award winning cheese. Simon explains every step while the group is in the dairy.

The most impressive, of course, is the storage where the group gets to see all the cheese that is curing at the moment. The storage is not too big as the dairy is producing only about 60 t of Pag cheese a year and only during the main milking season (January – June) but it was quite interesting to see all the different colors of curing cheese.

After the tour we go for the tasting, of course!

We enjoyed pag sheep cheese, fresh cheese, goat cheese… with a glass of local wine.

And then it was the time to go. Since we had some more time, I decided to stop at several spots to give my group more information on Croatia, Pag and Zadar region in general.

And with smiles on their faces, I returned them to their ship (after a short walk through Zadar).

This program is perfect for the cruise ship guests in Zadar area as they get to enjoy a very unique delicacy of Croatia but they also get to see a very unique island. Hoping to expand this program with olive oil tasting in Ljubac as some spectacular olive oils are being produced there these days!