We were off at 8.30 am over to the coastal city of Zadar. We had to go through this tunnel under the mountains over to the Adriatic coastal area of Dalmatia. It was about a 21/2 hour drive including a short bathroom stop at this roadside cafe and store. I just got a coke but was impressed with the range of offerings of fresh sales, cakes etc that you could get. Not at all what you’d expect from the exterior.

Mario, our driver detoured around this rural hotel place to show the animals they keep out the back. Some deer and a couple of brown bears in smallish paddocks. Yuck but interesting also. Not that different from keeping other animals I suppose. They were constructing a pond for the bears in the pen next door which is encouraging I guess.

Zadar is a seaside city on a small peninsular of the Adriatic Sea. We had a different local guide called Ivan. He delivered a lot of historical information but without much charisma or enthusiasm. Perhaps jaded by the glazed eyes of multitudes of tourists. We’d have liked to know more about how people live and work in Zadar.

Anyway it’s a city with a very long history and still showing the remnants of a second to fifth century occupation. There was also Venetian occupation and the Turks somewhere along the line.

The ancient churches are built on even more ancient ruins. The picture above shows bits of former Roman columns from the forum that have been used as foundations.

On the waterfront is a fantastic modern installation that references Alfred Hitchcock who evidently was very impressed with the sunsets at Zadar. It is a very large blue glass circle set into the promenade that has a grid pattern with solar strips on them. At night they show up with all the colours of the rainbow. Must look fantastic. I didn’t get a photo as didn’t appreciate its significance and it doesn’t look like much in the day. mike might be able to insert a better one later. You can see a bit in the photo below, just imagine a big circle.

Slightly further along is a musical installation made from tubes under the steps called a sea organ. As the waves come in it makes this eerie music. Evidently it gets quite loud which can be difficult for nearby residents especially on windy nights. I managed to video it upside down and Mike has spent ages trying to find a workaround but with incomplete success thus far. Hopefully we can insert it later.

There are islands off the coast where plenty of locals live and commute to work a bit like Waiheke I guess.

After the tour we enjoyed a glass of rosé in the square under sun umbrellas before wandering back to the bus for our 2 hour journey to the coastal city of Split. We had a bathroom break at a motorway stop in the Krka National Park. The views out across the river mouth to the village on the other side were worth the quick dash through the underpass for photos.

You know you are near Italy by the quality of the motorways. They are fantastic with split sections through multiple tunnels. No fluffing about with winding over mountains and ruining the scenery. Everything goes straight through the middle.

We got to Split at about 4.30 and dropped off more than half the group who are off on a boat cruising the Croatian coast. The remaining 16 of us had a tour of the old city which has a big part within the walls of this former Roman palace. The original walls have been rebuilt over the centuries and there are shops and apartments inside, even within the walls. There are also lots of examples of original Roman buildings and sculptures including mosaic floors and 2 Sphinxes that are original, one still with its head.

The guide was excellent. She was called Natasha and had a very balanced view of the history of the place. She explained it in terms of history being the story as told by the winners at the time and I think there lots to be said for that. The Roman emperor that built the palace was Diocletian. He was not noble born and came from an area not far north of Split. Somehow he rose to become emperor and then declared himself the son in this open chapel withof god (Jupiter) as means of establishing some permanence to his regime. As Natasha said, they’d previously had 30 emperors in 50 years. He clearly had some faults but was well organised and was the first Roman emperor to conceive the benefit of abdication and had 10 years of post rule retirement. He liked Egyptian art hence the sphinxes. They also have a small, mosque, synagogue and cathedral within the palace walls that are all currently operational, although the rabbi has 3 local areas that he has to administer so is a bit itinerant.

At one of the gates we listened to this local a cappella group who performed a couple of numbers in this open roofed chapel with wonderful acoustics.

After the tour we had a quick beer (purely medicinal as it seems to assist my constitution) just outside the palace overlooking the river. We thought it was the sea but is evidently part of the estuary. The geography of Split is a bit tricky. It all looked like coastline with palm trees and so forth. Mike is going to put a map in the blog to show all our journey and the hotels. He didn’t have a chance before we came.

After our ‘afternoon tea’ we joined the group and reboarded the bus for a short drive to a renowned local restaurant where they serve Croatian cuisine. It was excellent. Nice to have a sit down meal. We had a fresh tuna entree with olives, capers and cheese, then a yummy lamb casserole with a rich red wine sauce, gnocchi and salad then apple strudel to finish. The red wine was extra. It was also easier to talk to people with the bigger groups not there. We seem to be a mix of Australians, Canadians and New Zealanders.

It would have been nice to walk back into the old town after dinner but we just crashed. We hadn’t had much to eat between breakfast and dinner (5 cherries and 2 raspberries) so the red wine at dinner had quick effect and we still needed to check in to our hotel.

We stayed in a nice hotel called the Atrium. It has no view to speak of but the rooms were large and the air conditioning worked and was quiet. The breakfast was good but not Zagreb or Bled good.