Zadar: Day 1

We arrived in Zadar (Croatia) at 7 am from the overnight ferry and had very little idea of what we find here. Now at the end of the day, we both think it is wonderful and right up there with the best places we have seen on this trip so far.

Our apartment  (Fifi) organised their son, Tony, to pick us up at the port.  We couldn't get into the apartment but we could store our luggage and get in at 10 am. So we had a couple of hours to kill.

In the 2 hours we managed to tick off most of the most popular tourist spots in Zadar. Zadar Old Town is almost an island (a peninsula?) and an old walled city. Not too large about 1 km x 300m.

We first went to the town hall square (The People's Square) and found an ATM (no euro here..Croatian Kuna) and had a freshly squeezed orange juice. At 8 am it was already warm and sticky. (After midday the wind picked up and although it was hotter the breeze made it a lot more bearable).

Next was the embankment along the West side of the island. Here we saw 2 pieces of impressive art. The first is called The Sea Organ. This consists of a series of steps down to the water's  edge,  but the water goes under the steps and creates different sounds through blowholes in the steps. Very different and made a pleasant tune.

Nearby is the "Greetings to the Sun" monument. This consists of one enormous circle (diameter  about 20 m) of solar panels embedded into the paving and several other smaller circles (allegedly representing the planets of the Solar System). Luckily we went then because when we returned at sunset there entire area was packed with people.

Next we booked a day speed boat trip for tomorrow,Thursday, that will visit several beaches and islands West of Zadar.

Nearby were the Roman ruins, St. Donats Church, the archeological   museum and a couple more churches.

When we got into the apartment, we had a wash and a rest.

Early in the afternoon, we walked to the local beach, Kolovare and we were able to find a spot under the shade of a pine tree near the water's edge. A very relaxing afternoon swimming and sunbaking. Also on the way to beach we walked through one of the ancient gates of the city.

In the evening, we watched the sunset before having a nice meal at a restaurant called Pasta & Svasta. Kristin had a home-made pasta with shrimp and Andy had a rump steak. Both dishes were delicious.

Cheers,

A & K.