Day 7 | Visiting Zadar - the town with the most beautiful sunset in the world

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Alright! After having a day off and a break in Vodice we decided that our last destination outside our town was going to be the ancient town of Zadar. Day in Zadar was also a very long day as we spent it there form the morning and returned again during the night back to Vodice but it was also full of events and met new friends which of course had a positive effect on the whole trip.

Personally, have not been to Zadar since the school trip back before 2008... so I was also looking forward to it, just like Split I thought of it as almost visiting a completely new place. Unlike Šibenik I did not know much or where to go straight without using the help of the Internet. My sister had been more recently to Zadar but also did not know all the places. Thus I also thought it would be nice to have someone who knows the city and the old town to show us. We did not have any friends there but I actually remembered one "online friend" from Instagram that she always posted photographs with stories about Zadar so I thought there cannot be a better person than her to help us go and show around Zadar. I contacted her and she said she would like to help us after finishing being done with her job. So we agreed to meet later. And as you will see, we are very happy she (and the rest) joined us!

What makes Zadar special and what should you know about it?

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Zadar for sure is one of the oldest towns on the coast. The first settlement on its field actually dates back long before the Romans and Greeks to the period of Ancient Illyrians (maybe 9c BC) and even earlier where the name of Zadar, back then known as Iadera or Idasse might be linked with Proto-Indoeuropean. Okay, I just love languages so... After the Greeks and Romans in the 2nd century BC the old town got its characteristic and magic look what attracts today the tourists. Its current structure should be thanked to the Romans who built it in the same way as the other colonies in Europe. There is a forum as the center of the town and streets under 90 degrees, pretty geometric (Roman urbanism) and some temples became later churches of the Christians or actually rebuilt by the Croats centuries later. We were going to see all of that.

If you love the ancient cities and town, especially when you can walk among their walls and streets and eat something at the restaurant, then surely Zadar is on your wish list!

I would just love to share a bit more about the population, geography and few more sentences of history so you can understand better why things there are as they are and how all that affected and shaped the modern Zadar and the mentality.

• Population, geography and transport

  Zadar is the second biggest city we visited on the coast. It is much bigger than Šibenik when looking at the population of around 70 000 citizens. Though Zadar has not always been that big but in the past decades the population counted rapid growth with many citizens immigrating from the nearby hinterlands, mainly due to the good economic basis and industry.

  Thus just like in Split (and other major bigger places) you have a "mixture" of different groups of people with different dialects and cultural background now living together.

  Speaking of geographic and political position, Zadar is the last big settlement in Northern Dalmatia. It is also the administrative center of Zadarska county. It is situated on the peninsula and unlike the other places in the south it is not surrounded by the hills and mountains but with a plain. The mountain of Velebit (remember it from Day 2? ) is visible and within an hour and less by car. Thus Zadar has a very good geostrategic position and is one of the key points for transport and economy in this part of the Adriatic bay.

  Zadar is also connected with the rest of Croatia with the railway, the highway is pretty close and the ship. There is a ship line between Ancona and Zadar.

  The islands you see from Zadar are Ugljan, Ošiljak, Rivanj, Molat... Ugljan is actually what your eyes will see as it is very long, the rest is not that noticeable and important. There are many boats that go to Ugljan.

• History

  Just like many other places on the coast Zadar had also had a turbulent history and changed many rulers. After the Romans Croats settled in the area along with the Romance Speakers (of Dalmat language... thus there was the kingdom of Dalmatia). Later it was part of the Croatian Kingdom but still with the great influence of Byzantine Empire, then the Hungarians, Venice, Austro-Hungarian, Yugoslav states, occupied then by the fascists in the WW2 and finally in Croatia today. The old town was also destroyed but tried to be renovated so you will probably not notice anything. And it was bombed during the WW2 while under Italy... by the Allies. It was called 'Dresden of the Adriatic' (if you know the history) since lots of cultural heritage was lost. The last time such a catastrophe happened to Zadar was probably during the Crusades attack at the beginning of the 13th century.

  Yet, today we can finally enjoy the town and hopefully no more troubles.

• Two famous attraction that modern Zadar got

  If you are going to Zadar I am sure you must have heard and are planning to visit the two popular attractions. The word is of course about the sea organs, first of its kind in the world, played by the sea. And the 'Greeting to the sun' which is located right next to the sea organs and collects the sun energy later to be displayed as a disco on the floor while at the same time you're looking into 'the most beautiful sunset in the world'.

  More of these including photos once we reach it.

Bus ride to Zadar & The Bus (Railway) Terminal

We bought tickets for around 30-40 kuna (depends on the day and the company plus whether it is the local bus or one that goes on the bigger distances). Zadar is closer than Split as well so it takes a little bit more than an hour to get to it from Vodice.

You can also check the timetable here.

The bus ride was also sort of fun, we remember the bus driver saying something funny and maybe a bit rude but I guess the trips are not the trips without them. We stopped once on our way.

So, after an hour and 10 minutes our bus passed by the sign 'Zadar' and we started going down. Now, the bus terminal is huge of course, maybe as the same as in Split and has the same number of parking lots like Zagreb does. We checked when the last busses were going back to Vodice in the evening, bought the tickets and then tried to find the old town and our sightseeing on our own. Google Maps helped a bit.

The Bus Terminal is approximately 20-25 minutes by foot from the entrance to the old town on the peninsula. We took the road 'Ul. Ante Starčevića' and then to the right through 'Ul. Nikole Šubića Zrinskog' until reaching the rotor and moved left (SW) towards the sea. You can see it from there. And there is a small store and a market place so you can buy some food and drink before entering the old town (which is more expensive than the rest... except for one place we found).

Now we are approaching our target. Walking through the promenade beneath the trees and seeing the walls in front of us. There we are!

Entering the old town

There is something that looks like a bridge leading to the monumental gates that let you pass the fortified town and the thick walls. But it's not the bridge. The huge stone gates are known as 'The Landward Gates' and there you can see the Lion of Saint Mark which represents the Venetian Republic. You can find lots of these symbols that were left after the rule of Venice on the coast. The Landward Gates are one of the landmarks of Zadar. They have three passages and through the biggest one in the middle goes the car road. And don't go to the right ones, there's always something smelly.

While standing there in front of the gates if you look to your left (south) you will see the island of Ugljan and the small bay with boats called Foša. To your right is the wall so you have to actually look up. Behind the wall is the park and the gardens of Vladimir Nazor. More about it later.

Now after passing the gates we enter the mixture of Roman town and modern Croatia. The car road goes along the wall to the left and we took the old path that led straight.

We got already a bit used to these streets after Vodice, Split and particularly Šibenik and the islands but it was still new. Since this part is pretty flat in contrast to other sites it felt a bit like being in the labyrinth. Every few corners there were some pretty narrow streets you might even not notice but they hide lots of bars and restaurants. And there are plenty of restaurants in the old town! In some streets that had this old tiles you walked on you had to be careful as it was slippery.

We passed by the sign which said that on this place almost 600 years ago The University of Zadar was founded, in 1393, placing it among the oldest Universities in Europe. The modern building of the University is, however, on the other side right next to the sea. More of it and the difficulties the students have later.

At the tourist information office and some other institutions or museums you can find the map of the old town. I found one online which could be of use to you.

Forum Romanum

However, we left the restaurants and the bars for later. My sister and I knew there was something to show in the center and that was the architecture left by the good old Romans. Of course, I am talking about the Roman Forum (square) which must have been around 2, 000 years old. How cool is that? We found the columns and some remains of the buildings decorated with some sort of illustration. This area is pretty big and open. Thus today we have the concerts there and other events. Forum also lies close to the sea and the riviera. Generally, all the streets of the ancient Roman cities and colonies were leading to the forum and were organised very geometric. Along one side of the forum is the most known street of Zadar called 'Kalelarga' (Calle Larga) or in Croatian simply 'Široka ulica' which is the remaining of the Roman 'cardo maximus' (some say even before the Romans it existed).

Around the forum you can find several interesting sightseeing and cultural heritage. What we first saw was the Church of St Donatus with the tower. Behind that church was the Cathedral of St Stošija which we were also going to visit. Right next to us where we were standing is the Archaeological Museum and a bit behind is the Benedictine monastery of St Maria.

After taking some photographs we decided to take a look at the riviera.

The riviera and the sea organs

When you are trying to reach the riviera first you need to pass through the souvenir shops from the both sides of the street. Now we got it finally to the sea. There are two paths leading around the peninsula and riviera - one in the shadows of the trees and the main one along the sea. There were lots of people sitting on the edge or just simply enjoying swimming. What we wanted to show Madoka next were the famous sea organs. It took us maybe 10 minutes or less of walking till the end of the peninsula. Luckily since it was around the noon or a bit earlier there were not many people but in the evening it gets crowded.

Finally reach the sea organs. Before you see them you first hear them. I think everyone in Croatia knows about their existence and probably every school in Croatia went once to Zadar just because of the organs and maybe one other attraction. Surely it does attract tourists who like to sit around and record the sound. Now what does it sound like? The music of the sea? It is the waves and the tide that go through the wholes and produce the sounds and noises we hear. The organs were built upon the stairs though we do not see the system of course. Many also go to swim and jump right from the organs into the sea. The grand architect behind this is Nikola Bašić who was not satisfied with the monotonous concrete riviera (renovation after the bombing in the WW2) and thus literally designed this musical instrument. The sea organs were open to public in 2005.

Not even 30 meters from the sea organs there is another attraction called 'The Greeting to the Sun'. We are going to see it later when there is going to be the sunset then I will tell you more of it. So far just try to imagine what it is.

Circle around the peninsula and heading to the cathedral

After checking the Greeting to the Sun we decided to make a small circle around the town so we headed north-east following the road and ended up walking under the town's walls in the shadows. This street is called 'Liburnska obala' referring to the ancient tribes of Liburni who lived here before being conquered by the Romans. After 10 minutes of a walk we passed by some gates and saw the bridge to enter the town earlier and go randomly around.

We used a map a little bit to find ourselves in the vast ocean of narrow streets which all looked pretty much the same... and then found one route and quickly reached the Cathedral of St Anastasia.

The Cathedral of St Anastasia (Stošija)

Again, if you like the architecture and the art of the medieval ages you will find this interesting. And if I remember it the entrance is actually free! There are just a few things you need to pay attention to and that is how you enter - do not wear towel, be dressed "politely", do not wear hats and do not take photographs with the flashlight. The guy who is sitting there is paying attention to every detail and the one we had encountered was pretty religious and sensitive.

Although churches might seem to be boring this one looks pretty unique or at least not that simple as the others. From the front, the facade, you will firstly notice the two circular windows (rose window and oculus) and those of you who are more interested into art will probably recognise the Romanesque style. There is a bell tower behind. This church is by the way the largest in Dalmatia! Even bigger than the one in Split. Which tells a lot of the importance of Zadar throughout the history and how influential it was. It was built back in the 4-5th century but reconstructed and upgraded during the 12th and 13th century. So what you see in front of you has been a witness to numerous events for more than 1, 500 years. The church is also on the list of UNESCO World Heritage.

Finding a cheap restaurant for the lunch

Okay, after spending the time in the church and after walking all day long we became hungry and time to find quickly something for lunch. We walked again through Kalelarga and other streets trying to find some affordable place. We came the square of Petar Zoranić (and his statue), a Renaissance poet and writer, but even with his presence it was difficult to find something good. But we discovered that there was the entrance to the gardens and park of Vladimir Nazor. We were going to visit it after lunch.

The problem is - being in the historic town everything is much more expensive... after already losing hope and accepting the fate of paying an expensive sum for simple pizza we found maybe in Varoška street, one narrow street, one restaurant which offered Jumbo pizzas for around 50 kuna. We were so happy and quickly sat down.

And we did not regret it! We order the jumbo pizza and some Cedevita to refresh us. And after waiting 10-15 minutes or less for the pizza we were surprised at how big it was and very delicious. I remember the girls could not eat everything so I got more for myself and ate actually whole normal size pizza all for myself! We spent there around 40 minutes resting in the cool shadows and waited until our energy bars were loaded 100%. Now it was time to go back to the gardens and park which was close to the monumental gates of the old town. After 5-10 minutes of walking through the same streets we reach the green area.

The park of Vladimir Nazor

Unfortunately cannot find any photographs from the park which is nice but nothing spectacular, just the view from the walls above the monumental gates on Foša and Ugljan island. (check below! )

But here you can see some photographs of the park on Google.

While being in the park you climbing up and down, there are lots of paths that lead you around, you can see many types of vegetation and flowers. There are also benches and we were lucky to catch one without someone sitting on it. After resting a bit we saw there was a small "hill" probably 10 meters high and to reach the top surrounded with trees and bushes you had a spiral path from each sides. So we played a bit by jumping around to get to the top. From the top you can see mostly trees, other parts of Zadar but not much. Satisfied with our success of conquering 'Amon-Sul' we went down. Now, our goal was to wait an hour and half for our friend.

Relaxing in the shadows on the riviera

It took us 10-15 minutes to get close to the path that leads from forum to the riviera. There, just like many, we found one nice spot under the trees and made our 'camp' there. My sister and Madoka were playing Šnaps and I was half sleeping and enjoying the shadows dead tired and exhausted. At the moment I wanted nothing else but to sleep on the towel after having delicious lunch. Then I played a bit with Madoka and we all relaxed for 20 more minutes. The sky though became darker in the south and I got scared that the storm might ruin our day (and we had no umbrellas). Luckily it surpassed Zadar and the sun remained.

The time came, I told them that we need to go so our friend does not wait for us. And we decided not to swim, not even later.

Meeting our friend and visiting the Church of St Donatus

We made a deal to meet at the Zadar city gates and walked about 15 minutes till we reached them, through shadows and passed by the Library. All of that was within the walls. After meeting her for the first time for real, not only over the screen, she gave us some suggestions and what we still have not seen.

The first thing then was to visit the Church of St Donatus. I have never been there but now I was excited. In schools we learned about it but it always looks boring. Until you stand there or even better - enter it. We also met her sister there who was going to join us and stay until the evening.

Now, the Church of St Donatus is very old, huge with thick walls and built with everything in monumental dimensions. It's construction dates back to 8th century and the church's name was the Church of Holy Trinity. But later during the Renaissance it was renamed in honour of St Donatus and remained so. What you will notice from the outside is that the church is pretty massive for the time it was built (and that's one of the characteristics of the architecture in the early medieval ages). There are also three parts that are called the apses and on top of it there is a dome (but not like a sphere which is an invention from the Renaissance). It has a circular shape and once you enter you will find the circular grand space with massive columns. Today this space is being used for the concerts.

We used the stairs that go spiral to the top, the gallery. There is actually relatively lots of space to be honest, more than expected. You can walk around the center of the church and look down, I think the height must have been around 15 meters (the church is more than 20 meters tall). You can also have a look at the forum and the riviera from one of the windows through the protection net. Now while being there try to imagine how would it had looked like centuries or a thousand years ago with the torches, the holy mess, priests, the noblemen and the choir. Surely we could make some film in the future at this spot.

Alright, after taking some photos we went back downstairs to the exit. You can also get the information flyers and the map of Zadar the info table at the entrance.

Around forum

Okay, we are still at the Forum Romanum and now going to check what we had seen from the church. There were chairs everywhere on the forum since some concerts were going to be held several days later and the space was enclosed with fence.

Now we were about to enter one garden with some preserved columns or actually ruins of the Roman columns that were "exhibited" alongside the path made of stone tiles. Once more, this can be either boring or interesting for you, depending on how you see these things and think of it. The locals are of course totally used to walking everyday among the ancient buildings and ruins but for some tourists it is very exotic. Maybe we take it for granted but I think in every country the locals are more or less used to their surroundings.

We started wandering a little bit through the streets and also found one huge column, well preserved, that used to be the column of shame. It is not unfortunately in use today. We made a small circle around the nearby streets and houses with colourful walls and again saw the always interesting clothes hanging from the ropes between the windows and two opposite houses. Ended up back at the column of shame and then headed to Široka ulica (Kalelarga).

Our guide (let's call her Angie) then led us to one souvenir shop with the handmade design and jewellery from Zadar near the Church of St Anastasia. There we spent around 15 minutes while well.. everyone except for me was looking at the things they were selling, I just had to endure this difficult period of not knowing what to do with myself. We were also accompanied with the early mentioned sister (let's call her Mia).

On the walls and down

Now where to go? We went first through Kalelarga to the Narodni trg, passed by the fish market and other souvenirs stores close by and saw the street (Ulica Jurja Barakovića) that led to the gates and the bridge behind. The gates I say as the northern part of the peninsula is still fortified, it was not that damaged in the wars and kept today as part of the town and decorated. On the wall there is a car road and the path to walk. There are trees as well so the wall is today fully integrated into the town. We climbed up the stairs which are from the both sides of the gates and stood for a few moments to enjoy the view.

In front of us was the bridge making a shortcut to the other side of modern Zadar. Everything was full of boats and a few bigger ships. Then we headed again to the North and walked 5-6 minutes. By the way, the look from the wall towards the streets of the old town is pretty cool. I hope I have a good photo to show you. After several minutes of walking we found another stairs that led back down.

Going to the cafe and meeting more friends

Now the classical thing in Croatia - time to sit somewhere for a coffee or drink and talk for hours. We could not afford ourselves that day to talk for hours but just an hour and half maybe. Our sisters said they knew some good place they would like to take us into so we followed them. We passed by the Forum Romanum and Kalelarga, walked towards the riviera and then followed the road and street of Mihovil Pavlinovic.

Luckily it was in the shadows while it was still sun when we were up to the cafe. And with lots of trees around. Right, we stopped by again some ancient ruins of some small church or chapel which looked like a key or something (the layout from above). There is then a passage, once you go through it you will become surrounded with tall houses and there is also our cafe. We sat under the sun umbrellas and ordered something to drink. Then finally we could talk a bit without moving constantly and get o know each other better. The sisters told us Madoka was their first Japanese person to meet live and were excited and happy to help us and let Madoka have a great time in Zadar and good memories.

After half an hour or so two more friends of our sisters joined us. In the end there was 7 of us! After discussing differences between Croatia and Japan, asking Madoka about the experience here, what she likes and dislikes, what is strange or better than in Japan etc... we decided to slowly move to the last point of the peninsula. The sunset was slowly approaching. The sun was getting to the horizon. And of course we had to go to 'The Greeting to the Sun'.

The Greeting to the Sun

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We took the long walk of 10-15 minutes (relatively long... but almost from the beginning of the peninsula to its end). I wanted to see the Greeting to the Sun and take good photos of it, especially after my presentation of Croatia in Japan less than a month prior to our visit to Zadar. As I said, it was time of the sunset and the riviera was getting bit by bit crowded with tourists and locals going for a walk (and many were gathering at the sea organs and this greeting to the sun platform).

There was only one problem that ruined everything a bit. The sunset was there. And the sun also. But behind the clouds... so it all looked a bit greyish and like some rain could fall. In the distance one could not notice easily the islands that blended with the clouds on the horizon.

Nevertheless there were tons of people who sat next to the organs or the large groups, maybe 50-60 at least, were walking constantly on the platform. And one group of the locals was also swimming next to the sea organs. I was thinking whether I should also jump or not but then would have problems with the wet swimming suit since there was no more sun. And I did not jump in the end. Alright, after spending 5-10 minutes sitting there on the sea organs we decided to have a look at the platform.

At the first the light of the platform was not glowing and being bright that much... but after maybe 10 minutes it started to become much stronger and more different colours appeared. But wait, what is this all about?

Just like the Sea Organ it is based on the communication or interaction with nature and from this interaction we get some stimulation whether it be visual ones or audio (like Sea Organ). And the interaction here is between the light of the Sun and the multi-layered glass plates filled with photo sensors that reproduced then the effect - what we see and that looks like disco floor. And the sun is the disco bowl and technician which changes the light. The whole thing looks like a big circle, maybe around 10 meters in radius, with lots of fields made from squares that because of the sun's energy turn into different colours and glow. First it appears as the dark blue and then changes into red, purple, green and the others. It is of course pretty popular among the children who run around but also among the adults. You are also likely going to take selfies and lots of pictures of it. This functions perfectly with the 'most beautiful sunset in the world' and is very popular attraction. You just have to stay in Zadar till the evening not to miss it! And hope the sunset is not going to be covered by the clouds...

Walking back to the Gates Zadar and run for the bus

It was now getting darker and time to move slowly to the exit of the old town came. And there was no more chance to jump in the sea, especially when I do not see what is below me. We passed by the forum and walked till the end.

At the beginning of the text I mentioned the University of Zadar being one of the oldest but that the modern one is at some other location and students have some specific problems. Well, the new University of Zadar is right at the riviera and the problem for the students there is quiet simple - it is difficult to concentrate to study or follow the lectures when you have in summer a look from the window towards the sea and the island.

At the end of the peninsula is the little bay for the boats Foša and we walked under the walls on the narrow path around 30 m until we reach the stairs that lead up to the Gates of Zadar. Then the time to say goodbye came, we had great time with them whole day and learned lots of new things about Zadar. We started going back the same way to the bus as we did not want to miss it when suddenly...

I remembered I forgot to give them a small present for the help and time they gave for us. I started running and calling Angie on the phone and luckily she called back and we met at the Gates. After things were clear I rushed back to catch up with my sister and Madoka and then we all started slowly running towards the bus station. We arrived there 15-20 minutes before the departure so had still "plenty of time" for the toilet and maybe shopping. We entered the bus which was almost empty and with satisfaction sat anywhere we wanted, no one complained this time.

The bus ride back to Vodice was pretty quick, I even do not remember whether I was sleeping or not. We came home, told the stories and went to sleep after dinner. Or for a walk. I stayed at home. Dead tired.

Visiting Zadar was surely another great experience and adventure. Thanks to our guides again and other friends we had lots of fun. I do not remember seeing so many things in one day on the coast as here. Zadar was also our last journey outside Vodice before going back to Zagreb.

And the day of going back to Zagreb was approaching fast.

Thanks for reading and more about the last days soon.

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