Zadar, Croatia: Swimming, Sun, Sea-Kayaking. 14--17.Sept.2014

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Sunday, 14. Sept.2014.: 

We took the bus to Petrčane. 

,,Petrčane is a small resort in the heart of Dalmatia, only 12km away from Zadar. The historic town of Nin is located near this beautiful fishing place. The beaches are pebbly and stone, with adapted accesses, while the entrance into the sea is partially sandy. A refreshing, dense pine tree forest stretches along the entire beach. "

The bus back from Nin stopped in Petrčane and it looked like it was a nice place to go swimming. That ended up being the first time we got to go snorkeling.  You could see that the stones on shore seemed to be there to cover up the sea-urchins -- something you really didn't want to be walking in. We saw various kinds of fish, including fish with  stripes like tetra. I'm pretty sure i also saw some oysters or mussels on what looked like some old rusty equipment that'd ended up there.

Here's someone else's pictures of the area. Didn't bring my camera, since I figured I couldn't keep a good eye on my stuff. We were there in the afternoon, and ended up semi-accidentally on the hotel beach, which no one seemed to care about. 

Afterwards, when back in Zadar we ended up at  Narodni Trg, and heard a Croatian singer who sang (pretty badly) some Croatian folky-music and American Oldies. The best was watching a couple who tangoed to the more lyrical things he'd sing. 

Monday, 15. Sept.2014.: 
Didn't do much. Pizza for lunch, from Pizza Cut Dado.



We ate on the pier and lay in the sun.

Watched the sunset.  Zadar claims to have the most beautiful sunsets in the world.:

,,t may be that the loveliest inscription of Zadar's exceptional sunset was written by the famous Alfred Hitchcock. On the occasion of his visit to Zadar, in May 1964, while observing the luxurious game played by the sun the Maestro said: »Zadar has the most beautiful sunset in the world, more beautiful than the one in Key West, in Florida, applauded at every evening.« From room 204 of the former Hotel Zagreb, the great film master of suspense, enthusiastic and overcome by this notion, tried to catch the beatuy of the sunset with his camera."

Tuesday, 16. Sept.2014.: 
With some great weather, we walked south in the direction of the  ``City Beach" Kolovare.   We stopped when we got to a sort of sea swimming pool (,,Bazen Kolovare") erreichteten. Here's a good pic (not mine)..

It's connected to the ocean directly. The water's not particularly clear, probably due to algae and the water not moving enough. I swam 7 laps in total; it was probably 25m in length, but not sure.


Swimming pool, looking southwards:



Swimming pool, looking west:




View to the north. You can see the southern piece of the remains of the city wall of Zadar:

Lunch was pizza. Pizza in Croatia comes without utensils, but with this clever sort of individual-slice-fetching thing:



Wednesday, 17. Sept.2014.: Market and Sea-Kayaking

A few days prior, we thought that we could perhaps go to the  Plitvice Lakes.  But the weather there in the mountains was 14C. It was supposed to warm up (and then a few days later, rain) by Thursday to between 17 and 20C, so we planned for that instead.

We planned to save time and not try to find one of the restaurants (well, that's exaggerated -- fry shacks,maybe) there and rather bring food with us. Which is apparently a weird thing for a German -- in the Alps, there are all these nicely spaced ``Alpenhütte" so you stop to eat or drink along the way.
We also planned not to go with a tour group, so as to have more time.

So, I went Wednesday morning early to the  City Market 

``In most Dalmatian towns the market is a sight for sore eyes, and Zadar's is one of the biggest and best. It's been here since the Middle Ages, but the large open space dates back to WWII, when many buildings were flattened in this part of town.

Some around the edge of the square are only just being reconstructed. The outside stalls are where you'll find mouthwatering displays of fruit, vegetables, fresh herbs and more... all locally grown and bursting with flavour. Little old ladies (bakice) also sell home made olive oil, rakija and cheese – usually far better than the shop-bought equivalent. The indoor meat market is to one side of the square, and the fish market is opposite, coolly located inside the city walls. Proud locals claim it's the best fish market on the coast. ''

We ate at Malo Misto. I had some alright chicken risotto.

We walked to the main bus station, to get some advice and info on planning our Plitvice Lakes trip. The woman at the ``Informacije" desk said that if we took the bus at 08:30, we could take a bus back with the same company at 16:45, which would reduce the cost roundtrip from 220 to 165 Kuna. (220 Kuna ~ 28.86 Euro/$36.89, 165 Kuna ~  21.64 Euro/$27.66)

Sounded good, so that's what we planned for. We were also told the bus schedule for the bus stop nearest to us (which was impossible to find online, so quite helpful).

Then we took the bus from there that day to  Puntamika, a beach not so far from Zadar, to go sea kayaking. 

``An area with quite some history dating back to Neolithic settlements. It was an important defensive point because geographically it guards the shipping entrance to the old town - that’s why the city lighthouse is here. The coastal road is bustling in summer, with cafes, restaurants and a marina.''

There were a lot of kayak tours in Dubrovnik, but I didn't have the time for them or the desire to take one for 6+ hours, having never kayaked before.

I looked for kaya k tours in Zadar online and found exactly one -- Kayak & Bike Adventures Croatia. 

I wrote to them late on Monday. They said they'd do the Zadar tour Wednesday at 16:00, which is what we signed up for. 

The beach where we started:

There were two tour-guides - Filip and Ivana. Ivana spoke better English; Filip founded the company. He said that he had first worked as an engineer for 8 years, 12 hours a day with every 4th week free. He found it grueling and tried to come back to Zadar - he was originally from Zadar. But he couldn't find a job so he founded the kayaking company this year.

The father of Filip followed us and took some pictures:


I found it difficult to start, but at some point it got easier and we were the fastest outside of the tour guides for a while. It helped to sing sea chanties and such to keep up the pace.

E.g. ,,an der Nordsee Kuste":

,,..An der Nordseeküste am plattdeutschen Strand,sind die Fische im Wasser und selten an Land.An der Nordseeküste am plattdeutschen Strands,ind die Fische im Wasser und selten an Land.
Nach Flut kommt die Ebbenach Ebbe die Flut
die Deichesie halten mal schlecht und mal gut.Die Dänensie wandern am Strand hin und hervon Grönland nach Flandern jedenfalls ungefähr."(lyrics)

Here are the kayaks afterwards:

NEXT DAY: Plitvice lakes!