Zadar Croatia

We teamed up with our friends from Finland to explore our first stop in Croatia. It was too far too walk to anywhere of interest so an Uber soon had us at the Zadar waterfront. Here we found a circular artwork comprised of small solar panels. During the day it soaked up energy and provided a light show when the sun went down. The other thing of interest here was the sea organ. The concrete wharf has been designed with hollows so that when the lapping water hits it, it would produce sounds similar to a church organ. The sounds were very soothing and there was a large crowd enjoying this feature.

Zadar was once a walled city so it was time to explore yet another old town. It, as many of the places in this part of the world have been influenced by various cultures, including the Romans, Byzantines, Venetians, and Austrians.There’s a pattern emerging here. Stone walls, narrow cobbled streets, churches, castles with moats.

It was hot walking around so when the opportunity for a cold local beer came up, we jumped at it. Cheers (“Kippis”) with our Finnish beer loving friends. One thing I noticed was that the locals spoke exceptionally good English.

Our Uber driver joked that Croatian beaches were better than Australian ones as they don’t have all that messy sand. I guess that’s true as once you leave a stone beach there’s no sand on your feet!

Split Croatia

Up and about early and we had a plan! We would walk the old town as it was easily accessible from the ship and then try a short boat tour around the area.

I thought I had nearly seen enough old town ruins however impressive they were. Split was next level! We weren’t looking at remains or ruins but beautifully preserved ancient creations. The Diocletian Palace with its underground chambers was pristine. The weather was quite warm but even in the 4th century they had air conditioning worked out as the temperature downstairs was much cooler. The masonry work is so precise.

The historic Saint Domnius Cathedral from the 4th century stood out like a beacon. Even the upmarket surrounding shopping blended into the old town cobblestone lanes. We’ve had a glimpse of what a 4th century Roman lifestyle was like.

After all these years I didn’t realise I was with a mad cat lady!Apparently cats are a thing here and she read about a gathering of stray cats which is a tourist attraction so she was on the hunt. We saw 1 cat haha.

We were determined to do a sail around the area and booked a 90 minute cruise. When we boarded, the boat it reminded me of the SS Minnow used for Gilligan’s Island! Ruthie and I sat there for a while as the only passengers before we were advised that we were joining another group on another boat. Phew!

This boat had a lot more character. The guide was very passionate and called a spade a spade. He spoke about the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, the corrupt government and all his cousins from Australia who came to visit each year.

We got the opportunity to jump off the boat and have a swim in the blue green waters of the Adriatic Sea. It was our first ocean swim for a while and so enjoyable.

We sailed pass the island of Brac which is where a lot of the rocks and cement came from to build the old town back in the day. Interestingly they are still producing and stone to build the White House in the USA came from here.

Once back on shore we walked to the beach and had another dip. Believe it or not, we then had a local beer as we sat and did some very interesting people watching. It had been a great day and we felt that we had gotten a good taste of Split. It ever we return, the National Park and Lake Bled are still on our to do list.