Life in Split (Part 2/2) REVISED

We continue our explorations both north and south on the Dalmatian Coast

Oh dear, it seems something went wrong. Half the blog didn't get published! I blame Blogger (but they may be of a different opinion). Please read the section on Dubrovnik below...

Zadar

Up the coast from Trogir is a larger town, Zadar. Since the bus takes almost four hours to get to Zadar from our base in Split we made this an overnight trip. Paula found us a nice Airbnb on the edge of the old town, and we just took our backpacks (leaving the laptops and heavy suitcase back in Split).

Gate into Zadar, built by the Venetians.

And nothing says "Venetian" like the lion of St. Mark, symbol of Venice! (Detail from the gate.)

Like every town along this coast Zadar has a long and complicated history. It’s been continuously inhabited since at least the 9^th Century BCE. It was a major Roman settlement in the First and Second Centuries CE. Sacked by the Venetians in 1202, and passed around to various kingdoms, Venice bought it back in the early 1400s. It was ruled by the French, briefly, during the Napoleonic era, and then became part of Italy, with disastrous consequences in World War II. Seen as a hot-bed for German activity, Zadar was bombed, heavily, by the Allies (it became known as the “Dresden of the Adriatic”), destroying the waterfront and 80 % of the city itself.

According to information placards in the town, throughout the 1960’s all of Zadar was a construction site as the wreckage from the war was cleared out. Interestingly, this led to important discoveries as construction crews found remains of ancient Roman buildings below the rubble. The results of this “rescue archeology” can be found in the small but impressive archeology museum in town, and in the open-air museum called the Forum, where bits and pieces of Roman buildings are arrayed where they were found.

The Forum, with various chunks of Roman ruins. St. Donatus church in the background.

Same scene, at night (and note the flea market stalls in the foreground!)

Paula and the interior of St. Donatus; we're told concerts are held in here!

Many of the Roman finds are now in the excellent archeology museum located across from the Forum. We're not such great museum goers, but we found this one to be very well done, with some extraordinary artifacts from Zadar and the surrounding region. Also a few life-sized statues of emperors, and one of Jupiter (the Roman god, not the planet). 

Glass bottles from Roman tombs, dated from the 2nd Century.

It's hard to tell their size, but these babies hold about a half-gallon (two liters?), also from the 2nd C. Extraordinary!

Intricate ceremonial scissors, also from a 2nd C. tomb, with some clay lamps.

From a 6th-Century church. Looks Celtic to me...

Two more recent attractions in Zadar are the Sea Organ and the Monument to the Sun.  I can’t say much about the latter, as it was under repair while we were in Zadar. (I’m getting used to seeing old buildings and monuments under repair, covered with scaffolding: Big Ben in London, under refurbishment for the next few years; Hagia Sophia, the magnificent mosque in Istanbul, its vast interior now obscured by construction; Rumi’s tomb in Konya, Turkey, also under repair. But hey, the Monument to the Sun was installed in 2008! But it, too, was under repair…)

Monument to the Sun, large circular solar panel installation with flashy lights at night (or so I'm told...)

I found the Sea Organ, built into the new waterfront, fascinating. Five independent sets of harmonically-tuned pipes emit tones as the ocean surges against the sea wall. Relatively quiet in the calm of the morning, much more active in the evening breeze, it’s an ongoing reminder of the constant motion of the sea.

The sea wall, with vents for the Sea Organ (left foreground). Ugljan Island in the background.

And, the sunset. Alfred Hitchcock apparently passed through here in 1964 and commented on the fine sunset. Since Hitchcock is such a noted authority on sunsets (snark), sunset watching is now considered a must-do activity in Zadar. Admittedly, there is a nice view from the waterfront across the Zadar Channel to the island of Ugljan, and we did have an entirely satisfactory sunset experience. Paula calls it our “Shirley Valentine” moment…. 

An entirely satisfying sunset experience!

Here starts the part you didn't see...

Ah, and the boatman! Old-town Zadar is on a peninsula separated from the mainland by the harbor. It’s about a half-hour walk around to the mainland; a newly-constructed pedestrian bridge cuts that in half. But the boatman makes the trip across the harbor mouth in a few minutes. Today, even with the bridge, the boatman is still there (or his son, or grandson, or great-grandson…), still carrying passengers. After a visit to a great wine store in the new town we were half way to the bridge when Paula said, no, wait! We headed back, past the fishing boats and the mega-yachts, to the boatman’s dock.

Five minutes later (at a cost of 6 Kuna – $1USD – each) we were climbing out on the other side. (I took the boatman’s proffered forearm for support: it had the stability and solidly of the stone quay!) A refreshing bit of the old world.

The boatman, working his way back across the harbour mouth.

Oh, and Paula helped. Always wanting to be part of the action, half-way across Paula asked if she could have a turn with the oars. The genial boatman turned them over to her. We managed to reach the quay anyway…

The boatman gets a few moments rest as Paula takes over.

Dubrovnik

Two years ago on our first trip to Croatia we spent five weeks in Dubrovnik, and came up to Split to spend a couple of days. It seemed only right that on this trip, when we’re staying in Split for a month, that we should spend a couple of days in Dubrovnik. Which we did! Paula was even able to book the same apartment where we stayed last time. We spent a couple of evenings on the terrace staring out to sea,  watching the sky darken and the lights come on in the city, as we did nearly every night during our stay two years ago. We also had a chance to meet our previous landlord, which was a nice re-connection.

VIew from the bus window along the way to Dubrovnik

The town of Drasnice, far below the road to Dubrovnik

We ticked all the boxes in Dubrovnik. We walked the 20 minutes to the old city; marveled at the ancient walls (one of the very few cities with its mediaeval walls still intact); complained about all the tourists; lamented the many cruise ships that stop here. (And learned that the new mayor will be limiting the number of those ships, to preserve the experience of the city.) Walked through the now-familiar streets, visited some of our favorite spots, including the bar clinging to the outside of the walls, high above the sea.

The rugged coast, seen along our walk to the Old Town.

The Pile Gate, main entrance to the Old Town (and one of only two land entrances to the city).

One of the city's main streets, complete with tourists.

The Lion Fountain in the Old Town.

The formidable walls of Dubrovnik, seen from the outside bar

The next day we headed off in the opposite direction, to the area called Lapad. A deep bay is enclosed by fingers of forested hills, with gentile wind waves lapping on a narrow, gravel beach. (Which is standard along this coast: beaches tend to be vanishingly narrow and very rocky!) Along one shore a pedestrian path winds through the trees at the base of the hill, overlooking the blue, blue waters along the rocky shore. Across those blue, blue waters is Lapad, a protected hillside covered in trees. All in all it’s an area of natural beauty and quiet elegance, a nice balance to the hectic stone old town at the other end of Dubrovnik.

View back along the coast towards the beach.

Like most beaches along this coast, it's small and rocky. But the water is great!

A short way down this path is the Cave Bar, our favorite bar and what we’re sure must be the best bar on the Dalmatian Coast. It is built into a cave in the hillside, complete with sparkly crystals in the walls and a deep blue pool. But we prefer the outside, where tables and relaxing chairs are set in niches in the rocks with ladders ready to help swimmers out of the sea below. We wanted to swim off the Cave bar last year but just didn't get around to it before it closed. So this visit it was high on our to-do list. We swam, sipped our drinks and studied the blue water and the green trees, watching the occasional tourist boat pass. It’s timeless…

Inside the Cave Bar... but who wants to be inside on a day like this?

Paula in the shade at the cave bar.

The next day we were on the high-speed ferry at 4PM, headed back up the coast to Split. It's funny, both the bus, which we took on the way down, and the ferry take the same four hours to make the trip. Each has exquisite views of the coast: one from the land, the other from the sea. I’m glad we tried both. It was a good excursion!

Our ride back: a fast dual-hull ferry.

One of the ferry stops on the way back to Split. The town of Pomena, on the island of Mljet.

This will be our last bog from Croatia! By the time you read this we will have moved on to our winter quarters in Spain: Alicante, on the Med coast, for the month of November, and in Seville for Christmas and New Years.

Full moon rising over the Split harbor. A parting gift on our almost-last day there!

Perhaps on our next blog we'll compare beaches in Alicante with beaches in Dalmatia...