Sunny Morning in Zadar

Bridge connecting Old Zadar with modern Zadar

It was a beautiful morning for our last day in Croatia. That meant we could enjoy Old Town Zadar with at least some sun. We did not have to be at our next destination of Ljubljana, Slovenia, at any particular time, so we were in no hurry to exit Croatia.

So on a nice somewhat occasionally sunny morning in Zadar, what do you do? Head to Museum of Ancient Glass to see glass-making!

Outside the Museum of Ancient Glass

Glass jewelry maker Antonija Gospic made a housecall to the Hotel Bastion that morning to sell C**** P******* some artsy-funky glass bead rings. Ms. Gospic is in residence at the Museum and we were intrigued enough to want a demonstration. So off we trudged. It was well worth it. (Her website is on etsy.com, where all sorts of artists sell all sorts of things, so check out her virtual "store" if you are even remotely interested. She seems like good people.)

Antonija Gospic works the flame 

Then she blows the glass bubble

She only makes glass beads because, she said, her flame is not hot enough for larger pieces. To see that, we would have to go the third floor of the museum,

The glass bubble fresh from the kiln

The pitcher he is making begins to take shape

To make a vase or pitcher from glass, the level of heat was much much hotter than that necessary for the glass bead work.

After the demonstrations, we toured the collection.

More ancient glass artifacts than I've ever seen in one place 

Green glass receptacle 

Ancient glass pot and a photo of an archaeological dig.
(The pot did not necessarily come from that dig. Could have. But don't think it did.)

I learned that glass is the oldest "manufactured" material and it was first made in the B.C. era. It was prized for the fact that it was non-reactive. What was stored inside the glass receptacle did not react with the receptacle. Earlier pieces were functional, but beauty later became valued:

I like these

We then took a last walk around the city.

Entering from the ferry docks

The tourist hordes were arriving. But the market was happening for the locals.

It smelled nice in here. Better than my local supermarket. Where the produce section doesn't smell like anything at all.

We walked down to the riva.

Zadar riva 

Statue on the riva

At the south end of the riva, near the fosa

I did notice these steps leading into the Adriatic. These are for the swimmers, as people really do swim in the Adriatic Sea here.

Steps leading into the Adriatic

Then of course it was time to follow the crowd for one last look at the Greeting of the Sun and one last listen to the Sea Organ.

On the riva, walking toward the mellifluous Sea Organ

It was crowded. It was a tourist day,

This must be the view of the symbolic "Sun" from the Planet Jupiter 

Sister and B-I-L shooting photos of the scene

Then it was back into the city blocks of the Old Town for a gelato.

The narrow streets of Old Zadar

Yes, I should be tied to the Pillar of Shame for having yet another gelato.

Pillar of shame

We had to dodge truck traffic on the pedestrian-only streets to get to that gelato store where they had the mountains of gelato on display.

Fighting truck traffic to get to the place with the mountains of gelato on display

Incidentally, I got the blood orange flavor, which I've only had as a sorbet before, It's better as a gelato/ice cream. But it's still not as good as the cantaloupe flavor from the day before.

One last photo of the signature picture of Zadar.

The churches of St. Donatus (L) and St. Anastasia (R)

Then it was time to head for the izlaz (Croatian for exit).

Exiting Old Zadar by way of Our Lady of Health church

Last Night in Zadar, Las Night in Croatia

Sailboat in the Adriatic. My camera flash was not powerful enough to illuminate it

Friday night September 12 was our last night in Zadar, our last night in Croatia, and our last night with my Sister's (and B-I-L's) friends, the C**** and G*** P*******. They had joined us for the Split and Zadar parts of the trip, the Croatian meat in the sandwich with one slice of Munich bread and one slice of Slovenia bread. (Metaphor over-extended. Not to be used again.)

We decided to have a stylish dinner at the Art Hotel Kalelarga, the sister property of the Hotel Bastion, but located dead center in the historic Old Town section of Zadar. But, first, the reason for coming to Zadar. Another visit to the Sea Organ and Greeting of the Sun!

With the storms earlier in the day, and the heavy winds, the Sea Organ was loud. The night before, we did not hear it until we were right there, Tonight, we could hear it from several blocks away. We also learned something interesting about the Greeting of the Sun. The large circle, of course, represents the Sun. Heading away (toward the Sea Organ and down the Riva) are the planets, starting with small Mercury close to the Sun and ending with a large circle representing Neptune down past the Sea Organ.

Venus. Earth. Mars. And then a large Jupiter where the people are standing.

We learned this from C**** and G*** P*******. While Sister, B-I-L and I were getting soaked to the skin in Plitvice Lakes, C**** and G*** P******* were getting a private tour of the historic core of Zadar. We basically got the benefit of their tour without spending several hundred kuna by letting them tell us about their two-hour-plus private walking tour given by an Art History professor at the local university. We're so bad.

Night time is the right time for the Pillar of Shame

For example, the Pillar of Shame, the large column beside the entrance into the Church of St. Donatus? It's Roman. And it marks the spot where you would go to atone for your Roman era sins with an animal sacrifice. The hole for draining the sacrificial animal blood was nearby.

After a few stories, it was time for our 8 o'clock dinner reservation at the Art Hotel Kalelarga, where we ate and drank to the bursting point. Let's dine, shall we?

Pag cheese, octopus salad, prsut

The first course was the appetizers, all arranged on a platter. The Pag Cheese was awesome. The Prsut, incredible. The octopus salad? Good, but too tomato-y. For wine, we opted for a bottle of local red (a merlot) and a bottle of local white. For water, we opted for one bottle of still and one bottle of sparkling, We were an eclectic group of diverse tastes. They brought out a bag of icy water to chill the white wine.

The ice chiller bag

Isn't it cool. C**** and G*** P******* were pleased.

C**** and G*** P******* are stunned, amazed and pleased by the ice chiller bag. And they're sophisticates!

Actually, I'm not allowed to post that photo above. They were not happy how it turned out. I'm supposed to post this one, instead, I promised. So here's the one they asked me to post, the "official" portrait (with wine chiller bag sack):

The official portrait of the P*******s with the much-loved wine chiller bag sack

So if you see C**** and G*** P*******, make sure you tell them that they looked great in the "official" portrait with wine chiller bag sack and that you did not even see the candid, un-posed shot f them not paying sufficient attention to the wine chiller bag sack.

Time for the next course. And it's a soup course. I ordered the Cream of Truffle Soup, seeing as nearby Istria Croatia is the truffle capital of the universe and the price was quite reasonable:

Cream of chickpea soup (with bacon)

I know what you're thinking: "Bob, That is NOT cream of truffle. That's cream of chickpea. Why is there a picture of cream of chickpea when you say you ordered cream of truffle?" Actually, all of the men ordered the Cream of Truffle (the women opted to go soupless) and all received the above soup. The soup was delicious and creamy. I could taste no truffles, but I assumed that was because the delicious thinly sliced bacon in the above soup had overpowered the truffles.

Nope. Right as we were all finishing our last spoonfuls, the waiter came by all apologetic, telling us he brought out the wrong soups. These were the chickpea soups -- they did not taste like chickpeas and I mean that as a compliment -- and that he was going to immediately bring out the Cream of Truffle.

And he did:

Cream of truffle soup

And it was AWESOME. I'm not a fan of cream of mushroom soup. To me, it's not a soup. It's a casserole ingredient. But this was so good that I had to finish my second bowl of a heavy cream soup.

Me. Pushing the local Syrah.

By this point we had run out of wine. And we still had one course to go! So we had no choice but to get a third bottle of wine, a local Syrah.

Finally, out came the entrees. I ordered an herbed chicken accompanied by green gnocchi. Why were the gnocchi green? They did not tell their secret. They were a little bland, could have used some Pag cheese. The chicken was delicious, but I was too full to finish.

Herbed chicken cutlet with green gnocchi

If I were home, I would have asked for a styrofoam box and put my entree in it whole, uneaten. But seeing that I was traveling, and leaving Croatia the next day, I ate as much as I could. Which was a chicken cutlet and a half and only a few of the greens.

After all, I had to save room for gelato.

Yes. I went there. To the mountains of gelato store, I ordered the "dinja" flavor, which was absolutely awesomely incredible. Dinja? Cantaloupe,