Lun Olive Groves

At the northern tip of Pag, around Lun, grows a stand of wild olive - Olea europaea in its oleaster form - covering some four hundred hectares, with around eighty thousand trees of which a large number are very old; the oldest are credibly estimated at around a thousand years and some claims go higher. Many were grafted with cultivated varieties centuries ago and are still harvested. The trees grow low and twisted out of bare karst with drystone walls between them, in a landscape that is otherwise stone and scrub. The grove has been protected since 1963 and a marked path runs through part of it.

What you actually see

• Wild olives over about four hundred hectares - roughly eighty thousand trees.
• Some around a thousand years old - and still producing fruit.
• Grafted centuries ago - cultivated varieties on wild stock.
• Low twisted growth in bare karst - with drystone walls between.

When to go

April to October; autumn for the harvest. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Pag is a long drive from the bridge or a ferry, and Lun is at the far end. There is no shade beyond the trees themselves and it is hot. Facilities are limited to a small visitor point. Age claims for individual trees vary between sources.

Nearby

Novalja is south; the ferry to Rab leaves from Tovarnele nearby.