Shamballa Cruising Yacht Club: Zadar with a Splash of Split

We decided to break up our next bus journey with an overnight stay in Split, Croatia. As we were in Split for such a short time we only managed an afternoon walk around the town. It has a pretty waterfront and a quaint old town. Prices in Croatia are quite a bit higher than in Bosnia and Albania so after a late lunch at a restaurant, we were glad we had a little apartment and could cook the rest of our meals ourselves.

Split waterfront

Old Town Split

An old penny-farthing

Funky fountain

In my first overseas trip as a naïve 24 year old, I had come to this part of the world and stayed at a small resort in Sveti Stefan. One of our bus routes passed by this town and I got a chance to see it again from the cliff top. I must admit my memory has faded over the last 40 years. I realised that all this time I had been confusing Dubrovnik with Sveti Stefan. I suppose writing a blog this time around will help with those memory faults. (Not that I will be around 40 years from now, nor were there blogs in 1978!)

Sveti Stefan - I which I had been remembering as Dubrovnik

The next day we hopped on a bus to Zadar. We were told that the trip would be only about 2 hours but we got the milk run and stopped at every little town on the coast. Four hours later and no rest stops we arrived in Zadar. The coast is very beautiful and a sailing paradise. Terrific anchorages and islands dot the coast.

Zadar was a very pleasant surprise. I had never even heard of Zadar before we started planning this trip about a month ago, yet it has a rich history and so much to offer. Zadar is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Croatia with evidence of a stone aged settlement. In more recent times it was ruled by the Venetians for several hundred years and there is definitely an Italian flavour to the city, especially in its architecture and food.

There was one specifically Croatian dish that I was keen to try – Black Risotto. A friend of ours, who had been sailing this area, raved about it so I made sure to try it. It was delicious. The squid melted in ones mouth and the taste was superb.

Delicious Black Risotto

One of the beautiful gates into the Old Town

Looking down on St Donat's 9th Century Church from the bell tower

We stayed at a lovely guest house, The Secret Garden, in the middle of the old town. It was nestled into a community courtyard and had a delightfully funky outdoor sitting area.

The Secret Garden

Whimsical rock collection

Zadar is a very musical city. One evening we came across a group of men in striped shirts singing around the old town. Their voices were quite beautiful so I recorded their singing on my phone. I wanted to send to my father-in-law who sings in a chorus in Sydney. As the audio file was too big for an email, I tried my had and making my first video adding a slide show with some of the photos I took that day to go with their melodious voices. I posted it on YouTube entitled Sights and Sounds of Zadar.

The choir group

The next night was the start of Zadar’s summer concert session. An open air concert was given outside the medieval church of St Donats, dating from the 9th Century. It was a great community event in lovely setting with superb orchestral and operatic music.

Orchestra playing outside St Donat's Church

In the little peninsula of the Old Town there are at least 10 churches. Their ringing of the bells at midday is quite impressive. I made another YouTube video of the bells and church towers.