Zadar!

Ok, before Zadar, let me finish up Dubrovnik.  I didn't go back into Dubrovnik.  We only had a few hours before All Aboard and I may have slept in.  Also, we'd have to take a shuttle into town, and, given the limited time, it wasn't going to work. 

Once we left, the seas got a bit choppier and I felt a bit greenish.

Drank some Coke, which calmed the greenish, and then led my team to victory on the Broadway Music game. 

(My "identity" on my last trip was "that woman what still wears a mask indoors."  Now it's "that woman what still wears a mask indoors and won the trivia three times."  I feel more comfortable with this.)

Ok, Zadar.

Here's the thing about Zadar.  The weather forecast for today was 100 percent chance of thunderstorms.  We'd signed up for a tour by (electric) Tuk Tuk.  Which didn't seem like a great idea in a thunderstorm.  Now, I could cancel the tour with 48 hours notice, but, otherwise, I was told this thing runs "rain or shine, unless it's unsafe."  After confirming the weather report 48 hours out, I cancelled the tour.

Fast forward to today.  It's still 100% chance of thunderstorms, but not until afternoon.  So with a couple of dry morning hours, I decided to have a wander around Zadar instead. 

I confess this is kind of my favorite thing to do in a new city.  I got a gps (and my vague memories of a 15 minute port talk yesterday), and the generic mission of "buy a souvenir" and I'm off!

See?  I'm happy already!

This solar panel thing - right next to where we parked - is a public art installation called Greeting to the Sun.  At night, it's supposed to give us a good light show.  (Our Destination Manager has never seen it because they leave port too early in the summer, but since days are so short now, we've got a shot.  Then again, it was so overcast today, I'm not sure how charged up the panels will get.)

This is another public art thing called a sea organ.  There are underwater pipes all along here (with little holes running along the tops of the steps) and the currents make music.  It's deep and sounds a little like whale song.

Given the total lack of people around these art things (and the Dubrovnik experience the other day) I was starting to wonder if there are actually people in Croatia.  I was excited to finally find some.

So, I'm walking mostly aimlessly down this shopping street and see what looks like a city wall at the end of it.  Google Maps marks it as a tourist attraction called "Land Gate," so I go through it (not much to look at) and then turn around.  Oh, yes; I see why it's marked now.

Turning back ahead of me (on the outside of the gate) it looks like a park.  (Queen Jelena Madijevka Park, Google Maps helpfully adds.)  There's a few stairs it looks like I can climb to get a view.  (I am aware that this sentence has gotten me into trouble before, as my knees are much better going up than going down.  But this really DOES look like Not Too Many Stairs.  So I investigate.  And am rewarded.)

Is this a great autumn day or what?

On my way back down, Google Maps tells me I'm near Five Wells Square, which had been mentioned in the port talk.  Five 16th Century Stone Wells.  Ok, I give it a look. 

For reals, I had walked through it already and missed the wells entirely.  Looks like they were setting up stands for some sort of outdoor festival or market there, and the wells were kind of ... just there.  But here's three of them anyway.

I start heading back toward the shopping street and nearly run into a Roman column.  Just hanging out by the coffee shop.

Actually, Roman ruins are just sort of THERE all around Zadar.  Here's the remains of a Roman forum right next to a church.

I had managed to find my souvenir (mug) by this point, so I was headed back toward the ship.  I was going to go down one street in particular, but saw two things that suggested a different route.  The first was this little pathway with Roman ruins set up on either side.  (You could touch 'em!  I touched one.  I like touching stuff like that and thinking about the stonemasons and artists who handled it all those years ago.  Did they know their work would still be admired 2000 years later?)

The other thing was the fact that the pathway ended at the sea, and this pier.  (Google Maps suggested is was the Best Place To View Sunsets.  I'm thinking not today.)  But it was a nice place to continue my walk.

And get myself back to our ship!