Cute little town but not much to do in the off season

Travelbear in the forum with St Donatus in the background
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I arrived in Zadar at about lunchtime on the bus from Split. The website for the place that I was staying said that it was only 1.5km from the city so I figured that I could walk to get there. That was a big mistake because Zadar takes the poorly marked street signs to new heights when compared to the rest of Croatia. It also is very lacking in footpaths even on major streets.

I missed the street that I needed because despite the fact that it is a major street, it didn't have any name written on it. I headed up into the suburbs a bit before deciding that I must have missed it and headed back down into the town a bit more, through some windy streets with lots of traffic and no street signs or footpaths. Even if I had a map I think that I would have struggled to work out where I was on it because nothing made any sense. So instead of it taking me what I thought would be a 25-30 minute walk to get to the flat, it took me more like an hour and a half. I was very tired and very hungry by the time that I arrived.

The main gate in Zadar
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The flat is really nice and new with a huge bed (with an actual decent mattress on it) and an enormous bathroom. I dropped all my stuff and headed off to find a supermarket to get food for dinner and for my trip out to the Plitvice Lakes National Park the next day. I found one a short walk up the street and returned to the flat to sit around on the comfy bed and do nothing for the rest of the afternoon.

The next morning, I got up really early and headed to the bus station to go to the Lakes and spent the whole day there (read the next entry if you are interested in the lakes) and got back at about 8pm. I caught the bus back out to the flat and pretty much went straight to bed as I was tired after all the walking.

This morning I got up late and had an easy start to the morning. I walked along the waterfront into the old town and have wandered around here for the rest of the day (or about half of it). The town isn't huge and a lot of the churches and museums are closed for the off season so there isn't a huge amount to do either. The main attraction, the church of St Donatus isn't open at all in the off season which is a real shame.

There is a lot of quite well preserved Romanesque buildings in Zadar and it's unusual to see so many of them. Most countries slowly replaced them as styles changed and as things burned down or were destroyed during wars. Lots of the churches have had the altars replaced or more modern side chapels added but the basic buildings are still in the original style.

I started first thing with the church of St Anastacia as it was open and I wasn't sure how long for (none of the churches in Zadar had opening times  advertised). It is a large mostly Romanesque church that as built in the 13th century but has had a lot of it's altars replaced since then. It has a very out of place looking wooden ceiling as well. The inside wasn't anywhere near as attractive as the outside but they have moved things around a bit at the moment because of renovations so maybe it looks better usually.

I headed to the Square of the Three Wells (which you guessed it has three wells) and peered through the glass windows at the little church there. I headed along the street to the Franciscan monastery which has a large gothic church and building. The church is gothic on the inside as well except for a couple of baroque altar additions. It wasn't anything special on the inside. The building next door is now used by the museum for restoration works. I had a quick peek in the courtyard which is quite lovely with a little carved well in the middle and lots of gothic pillars.

I then headed down to the sea organ which is nothing to look at but sounds great. Underneath the wharf where the ferries dock is a series of pipes that make noise as the waves more back and forth. At first it was difficult to hear because of the man using the leaf blower to blow cigarette butts into the ocean and the man using the high pressure hose to clean the wall behind me but eventually they all stopped and I could hear it. I wouldn't say it was exactly musical but it does sound very soothing.

I headed along the waterfront which isn't as developed as Split or Trogir and headed back through the forum to the Church Art Exhibition. It is in the convent of St Mary and is run by the nuns. It was 20 kuna to get in but was worth the price as it is a very good collection. It has small items like reliquaries and silverware as well as altarpieces, paintings, icons and embroidery.

It is quite an impressive collection and there must have either been someone with an interest in it or a lot of money or both in the convent at some stage. There is a huge collection of relics, mostly of arm bones but also other bits and pieces. They are very ornate and quite beautiful. There are also some silver busts of saints, some even have changeable hats.

Most of the icons are from the 13th century and are by Italian artists. It is interesting to see the difference between these and the ones in the rest of Eastern Europe. There is much more originality in the work and variety in the colours used. They are definitely more natural looking.

They definitely aren't into the graphic depictions in Croatia like in Bulgaria. There weren't any saints being eaten by lions or beheaded (complete with spurting blood) like in Rila.

The church attached to the convent was locked unfortunately so I couldn't see the inside.

I walked through to the town gate which was built by Venetians and is the most ornate of the gates. From there I headed up the steps to the Square of the Five Wells (which you guessed it has 5 wells) and through to the Church of St Simon. This church is very interesting and is the most mixed in styles of all the churches in Zadar. The inner columns were pilfered from an earlier Roman building so are older than the church and some of the other parts of the building are pre-Romanesque. Behind the altar is the silver casket containing the body of St Simon which was given to the town by the Hugarian Royals. Most of the side altars in the church are the ugly marble Baroque monstrosities that are so loved here.

I then headed up to the main square before going to the other two remaining city gates. Neither of these have much decoration left so really aren't that interesting. I went to walk along the city walls but they actually have put a road along the top so it isn't really worth it.

I headed off to try and find somewhere to have lunch but they seem to have either coffee shops or fancy places in the old town and I gave up after a while. I had a little while on the internet and then headed out to the bus station to get a ticket to Pula and to go to the enormous Konzum that is next to the station. I grabbed some stuff for dinner and lunch and headed back to the flat.

The next morning I got up early and headed to the bus station and onto Pula.

Sorry, I have run out of time on the internet. Stay tuned to hear all about the things that I did do in Zadar.