Zadar, Croatia – July 29, 2024

Last updated on September 11th, 2024 at 04:29 pm

[This is a rough draft to get started. We’ve done a lot of traveling so far, and are behind in sleep, so we’ll keep this updated as we have a chance. When this isn’t here anymore, you’ll know that we’re finished with the page!]

Zadar, once an island separated from the mainland by a deep moat, boasts one of the region’s richest histories. For over a millennium, it was the capital of independent Dalmatia and so held great sway with Rome, Venice and other empires. Its impressive city walls attest to its might, and the bold Romanesque architecture of its three churches embodies its religious influence. A maze of cobblestone streets winds through its magnificent Old Town, a remarkable repository of red-roofed, medieval stone houses.

Pictures from Zadar

Video from Zadar

We had a more leisurely morning as the ship wasn’t scheduled to dock until 9 am with our tour beginning at 10 am. Alan woke up early. There are many small islands in the area, the ship needed to thread it’s way through them to Zadar. We were able to watch as we enjoyed breakfast outside on the Aquavit Terrace, the first day the temperature and humidity made it comfortable. As we strolled back to our stateroom, we saw the pilot boat leave the side of the ship. 

The ship docked directly outside the Old Town. We left the ship few minutes early to take a look and listen to the Sea Organ (Morske Orgulje). This massive underwater instrument, designed by architect Nikola Bašić, plays musical notes generated by the sea. The constantly shifting waves never play the same tune twice.The sea was pretty calm, so the tones were in a lower range and softer. 

We met our tour guide at the pier to begin our walk into the Old Town. We walked Pozdrav suncu, a depiction of our solar system made of a circular arrangement of solar panels. The circles were arranged in order and by scale, beginning with the sun. At night, the sun circle gives a light show. We leave port at 5 pm, so are sorry to miss that. We continued walking along the Bay of Zadar until we turned toward the Old Town with our first stop the Roman Forum. Near the Church of St. Donatus, are the remnants of an ancient Roman marketplace. Built between the 1st century BC and the 3rd century AD, the forum is one of the largest of its kind east of the Adriatic. We walked along the Roman Forum to the Permanent Exhibition of Sacral Art which was monitored by a cloister of nuns. The exhibit had an extensive collection of reliquaries, including one for John the Baptist. Several reliquaries containing hand or arm bones were jeweled silver replicas of the lower arm and hand with the index finger pointing upward. Joyce was surprised at the variety of shapes and sizes of reliquaries. This collection also contained statues and paintings, including a painting of Mary nursing Jesus. 

After the exhibition of sacral art, we walked around the Church of St. Donatus. Dating back to the 9th century, the Church of St. Donatus is a circular Byzantine-style church rising out of what used to be Zadar’s ancient Roman Forum. As one of only a handful of buildings to survive the Mongol invasions of the 13th century, the Church of St. Donatus is an important cultural relic and one of the most popular tourist sites in Zadar. On our way to Cathedral of St. Anastasia, we stopped to enter the Church of St. Elijah, an Orthodox Church dating to the 16th century.  

Cathedral of St. Anastasia is Romanesque, parts of the church dating to the 4th and 5th centuries. Damaged by the seige of the Venetians it was rebuild in the 12th and 13th century and again after bombing in World War II It is the largest church in Dalmatia. The woman taking vouchers/tickets strictly adhered the rules for entering a church – shoulders and knees must be covered, hats removed. If the ladies wearing sleeveless tops didn’t have a scarf to cover their shoulders, they were not allowed to enter. The main portal is decorated with a shallow relief of four apostles. There are also numerous statues that create a very fascinating scene, some of which are a statue of a mystical lamb, and statues of the angel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary.

After the Cathedral of St. Anastasia, we walked through the business/tourist area of Zadar. It was very crowded with cafes, shops and people sitting at the cafes and standing in the walkways talking and eating gelato. We continues walking through Five Wells Square toward Queen Jelena Madijevka Park. In Five Wells Square are five working wells which are well preserved with intricate designs and interesting architecture. Queen Jelena Madijevka Park includes walls built during the Venetian period as well as numerous trees and plants with curving walkways and benches in the shade. It was a peaceful place. We ended our tour overlooking part of the Bay of Zadar from the park.

After our tour, we rested a few moments, enjoying the peacefulness welcome breeze in the shade from a bench in the park. We began our walk back to the ship, stopping to visit the Church of St. Simeon. Initially, the Church of St Simeon was an Early Christian three-nave basilica, then a Gothic building, and later a monument of provincial Baroque characteristics. On its main Altar there is a silver casket with the relics of St Simeon, dating back to 1380. After visiting the Church of St. Simeon, we continues walking toward the ship. We came to St. Donatus and decided to explore inside. St. Donatus has been built reusing parts of the columns and huge stones from the Roman forum. It is circular, with large columns. The inside is smaller in circumference that Joyce imagined from looking at the outside. Concerts are held in the building because of it’s excellent acoustics. Alan climbed to the balcony and looked down on Joyce. There are no statues or adornments. From the outside, you can see slices of columns laying on their sides that are used in the foundation. As is the theme each day – it is HOT! We treated ourselves to some gelato – Joyce chose lemon and Alan chose red raspberry.

After lunch and a nap, we decided to revisit the Sea Organ. The wind has picked up and the waves were a little choppier. Lots of people were swimming and jumping off the steps into the sea. Joyce decided she wanted to dip her toes into the Adriatic Sea. She sat on the lower steps and let the waves come up over the steps and onto her feet. With bigger waves, boats and so many people in the water, the tones of the Sea Organ were different than when we visited in the morning.

We decided to go to afternoon tea as it probably will be our last chance. We again asked for Bombay chai tea and our confused waiter told us it wasn’t on the menu. We told him we know that but the waiter had found it for us the two other times this voyage when we had afternoon tea. He said they didn’t have any, so we selected another tea. He talked to his superior, because soon the dining manager came to visit us. He was surprised to learn we had asked for Bombay chai two other times on this voyage and it had been served to us. He explained it had been on the menu in previous years, but had been difficult to reliably source, so had been discontinues. His best guess was there was a small amount remaining and the waiter we had knew where is was and served it. This was all very believable to us as when we returned from our December, 2021 voyage, we had difficult finding it.

There were quite a few people waiting for tables when we arrived at The Restaurant. When it was our turn, we were seated at a table for 2 but not in Taufik’s area. Our waiter was nice and efficient and soon was ready to take our order. Joyce remembered the the wine she liked was produced by Vinologist in South Africa, but was stumped when told two white wines from this producer were served on the ship. Taufik’s area was close to where we were seated, so we asked our waiter if he would be willing to check with Taufik to see if he remembered the specific wine Joyce liked. We were pleased and surprised to find Taufik did indeed remember! When she was served the wine, Joyce took a picture of the bottle so she would remember. Dinner was excellent as usual.

Tonight was the farewell party in the Star Theatre prior to the evening’s entertainment. We weren’t really interested in attending, but it must have started late or ran long, because it was still going when we arrived at the theatre. The evening’s entertainment was the Viking Sea Singers preforming the Beatles Songbook. There were several songs we knew and we enjoyed singing along.