Zadar, Croatia

Small Marina with a Costa Cruise ship in the distance and a large Island easily accessible by ferry in the far distance

Bridge connecting the more residential part of town to the Old Town area

Park near a large marina which I passed on my walk from the hotel to Old Town

Beautiful Old building seen on my walk to Old Town

Park seen on the walk to Old Town

Front yard of an old villa with interesting stone sculptures across from seaside and seen on my walk along the water to the Old Town

Front yard of an old villa with interesting stone sculptures across from seaside and seen on my walk along the water to the Old Town

Front yard of an old villa with interesting stone sculptures across from seaside and seen on my walk along the water to the Old Town

What a beautiful city with a very small but comprehensive old town with multiple Ancient Roman ruins.

It was pouring most of the day but fortunately the hour walk from my hotel along the seaside was pretty dry and it only began to get seriously damp just as I crossed the pedestrian bridge to the old town wall and ancient entrances.

View to the Zadar Gates and Old Town Wall leading to the pedestrian bridge

"Zadar is an ancient city, built in the center of the Croatian Adriatic, full of historical and cultural monuments. It is three thousand years old, a city of old, tumultuous and dynamic history, often destructed, looted, devastated, every time emerging from the ruins stronger, richer and more beautiful. Zadar appeared for the first time in history in the 4th century B.C. as a settlement of the Illyrian tribe of Liburnians – the name Jader was mentioned, and through history it changed into Idassa (Greek source), Jadera (Roman source), Diadora, Zara (during Venetian rule and later Italian) up to today’s name of Zadar."

St. Donat Church

After 2 and half hours I was totally soaked but I did manage to see a lot of sights but forgot to check out the Sea organ which sounded from what I had read really interesting. "It is an architectural object located in Zadar, Croatia and an experimental musical instrument which plays music by way of sea waves and tubes located underneath a set of large marble steps. The waves create somewhat random but harmonic sounds. The device was made by the architect Nikola Bašić as part of the project to redesign the new city coast (Nova riva), and the site was opened to the public on 15 April 2005"

Also next to it in the evenings there is a Solar Light show powered by solar energy and apparently the display of what looks like a laser light show is pretty spectacular. I didn't go out to see it after dinner I just couldn't even contemplate putting on my now drying shoes and rain coat.

Tower next to St. Donat's Church with a beautiful Bronze  Angle sculpture at the top that moves in the wind

I took the public bus back to the hotel, I was just too tired and wet and need to use the bathroom but interestingly as nice things always happen even when you're wet and cold waiting at the crowded bus stop. This nice young lady gave me information on the correct bus and so we chatted as she spoke English very well and it turns out she lost her job a while ago as well and was trying to figure out all these months what to do next so she decided to just up and move to Norway where there are more jobs and she has a few relatives there. She leaves in May and seems very excited but a little nervous up the upheaval in her life. I told her how I had lost my job and kind of did the same thing so not to worry that it will be great and she reassured me that all would be great with the rest of my trip and hopefully great and wonderful things will happen as a result of being so open to the world and taking this adventure. It's funny how just when you're feeling a little out of sorts dripping wet, a little tired and cold that you meet someone who says exactly what you need to hear to be put back on track and all positive and up beat again. And I seemed to have had the same effect for her and hopefully after our talk her nervousness about the move is somewhat lessened  I am continually amazed at how we get exactly what we need in the way of support and encouragement just when we need it even from very unlikely sources.

Forum Park - Ancient Remains

And getting back to the hotel and drying and then enjoying the sauna and steam room was great for the weary traveler and for an hour or so this afternoon, as I sat in my room doing some computer work, the sun actually shown and I contemplated going back out to walk some more but glad I just stayed put.

Dinner was phenomenal again and the manager who kindly upgraded me stopped by my table and it turns out he's Italian from near Bari and has lived here for over a year and he finds that Croatia reminds him a lot of Italy and the small towns there and I agree, I've felt that as I've walked the streets and met the people.

I visited the following sites:

Forum Park - Ancient Remains

Forum Park - Ancient Remains with the Archaeological Museum in the back

Forum Park - Ancient Remains

"The Forum - Located in front of the church of Saint Donat and the Archbishop's Palace. It is a municipal square from the Roman era, built from the 1st century BC to the 3rd century AD, 45 by 90 metres in size. It represents a very developed example of the forum complex, and is one of the most important among the Adriatic ancient cities. The inscription with the name of Augustus' proconsul for Illyricum, Tamfil Vaale, carved on the well of the Forum, testifies that the complex construction was started as early as the second decade of the 1st century BC."

Narodni trg

"Narodni trg (People's Square) is the centre of public life in Zadar from the Renaissance until today. On the site of the Large Square, platea magna, the foundations of municipal institutions were laid in the early Middle Ages."

View from Park above the Five Wells Square

Hill in park above Five Wells Square

Zadar Gate near the Five Well's Square Park

Five Wells Sqaure

Park Above Five Well's Square

"Five Well Square - The Square is located on a site between the medieval City Walls with a cornice and the Renaissance bastion Grimani where the city park is situated. In the Middle Ages there was a defence ditch. During the 16th century, the Venetians helped the city withstand Turkish sieges by building a large drinking water cistern with five ornamental wellheads, after which the square was named."

Forum with Church of St. Donat

"Church of St. Donat - The symbol of the city of Zadar and the most famous monumental edifice in Croatia from the early Middle Ages (9th c.). Round pre-Romanesque church which was called the Church of the Holy Trinity until the 15th c., and from that time on carries the name of Saint Donat, by the bishop who had it built."

St. Mary's  Church

St. Mary's Church

"The Church of St. Mary - It belongs to the convent of the Benedictine nuns that was founded by the noble woman Čika from Zadar in 1066. She came from one of the most respectable noble families - Medijevci, and according to some sources she was the half-sister of King Petar Krešimir IV."

St. Mary's Church wit the Forum Remains in front

"St. Anastasia's Cathedral - The biggest cathedral in Dalmatia. Its oldest parts are an early Christian basilica, but its present Romanesque appearance was shaped in the 12th century. During the crusaders' siege and conquest of the city in 1202, the Cathedral was damaged, but later it was reconstructed and made longer. The portals are lavishly adorned by relief and an inscription of Archbishop John from the year 1324. Its bell-tower was built in the 15th and 19th c. mostly in a neo-Romanesque style."

St. Anastasia's Cathedral Front Door sculptures

Tower around the corner from St. Anastasia's Cathedral

St. Anastasia's Cathedral

"Saint Francis Church and Franciscan Monastery - The oldest Dalmatian church built in the Gothic style (1283). It represents a type of, so called, Gothic monastic church characterized by a single nave with a raised shrine. In the 18th century the appearance of the church was changed. Behind the main altar from 1672 there is a former shrine and in it choir stalls richly adorned by carvings in the floral Gothic style from the year 1394, made by Giacomo da Borga Sansepolrco. The sacristy, which follows the choir stalls, is very important for the Croatian history because it was there that the peace was made between the Venetian Republic and Hungarian-Croatian king Ludovik Anžuvinac, and by that act the Venetians gave up their pretensions to Dalmatia."

St. Francis Church and Franciscan Monastery

"The City Walls and Gates of Zadar - Once the largest city-fortress in the entire Republic of Venice, Zadar’s walls allowed it to retain more of its independence than most of its neighboring cities, and meant that it was never captured by the Turks. Previously, there were even more fortifications than there are now, but the ones that are left are put to good use, with delightful parks and promenades on top of them. Take a look inside doors such as the one on Five Wells Square - you can see huge empty spaces inside once used as military storage facilities. On top of the bastion above the Bridge Gate is a promenade called Muraj - a peaceful vantage point over the mainland opposite and the people crossing the bridge. The one of the large yellow building up on the promenade belongs to one of Zadar’s old newspaper presses."

Ancient Walls

Ancient Walls

Small Marina near the Five Wells Park

Small Marina near the Five Wells Park

"The Church of Our Lady of Health - A painting of Our Lady of the Fortress painted by Blaz Jurjev of Trogir, dating from the 15th century, was kept there (today it is part of the Permanent Ecclesiastical Art exhibition). It has a great reputation and is popular amongst many generations of Zadar's inhabitants."

The Church of Our Lady of Health

The Church of Our Lady of Health

Small, interesting old building

Small boat taking the Costa Cruise guests back to their ship docked out in  the bay. The guests, where were many walking around the  Old Town, were French and it turns out the cruise left Marseilles and is doing Croatia and Sicily  Italy

Me on the Pedestrian Bridge after almost 2 and half hours of walking in the rain. All wet but still smiling.