Sorry for the delay in these posts! I’ve had a tonne of crap going on, which sort of took over my life the past couple of weeks, but hey ho! I’m here now (semi-sane) and ready to tell you about some of the amazing things my friends and I got up to in Zadar!

Despite planning my butt off – as you maybe saw from my post Planning a Holiday to Zadar – stuff still went wrong. Like my friend Alicia forgetting her purse (currency, cards, UK cash) and only realising the moment we got to the airport. Doh! Thankfully, she had remembered her passport, so we enlisted her brother to send us money and for her to then transfer it into Croatian Kuna.

Tip: Don’t exchange money in the airport. The exchange rate is soooooooooooo bad. We waited until we got to Zadar airport and exchanged it then. You can also find a better rate in some of the little shops dotted around Zadar city.

Also, if some of the photos on here are grainy, it’s because I was switching between my Canon and iPhone. So, some of them might be phone quality 🙂

A Royal Send Off To Zadar

After the hiccup with the forgotten purse, we sailed through security and bumped into a very cheerful looking Lizzie. How kind of her to take the trip up from Buckingham Palace and send us off in style!

We called in at World of Whiskey in Stansted Airport and picked up an awesome bottle of vanilla and cinnamon Baileys. Oh, my word! Did you know such a beast existed? It was DELICIOUS! We couldn’t help cracking it open on the plane.

By the time we landed in Zadar, the sun had set, but it was still a balmy 17 degrees, which was lovely. The weather we’d left back in England was warm as well, but it had just begun starting to cool down.

Not for us though! Look out Zadar!

We quickly got through passport control and collected our luggage before heading off to pick up the car. It was little automatic Vauxhall Corsa, which I had to remember how to work (as well as the left-hand drive thing again), but it was fine. The drive to the accommodation only took about 20 mins and, once there, we met Anna’s parents (our host) who gave us the keys and helped us inside. Although it was midnight, we were starving, so after dropping off our bags, we went in search of something to eat.

The only place that seemed to be open at that hour was a street vendor, and I had a meat börek, which is a type of wrapped filo pastry, sausage roll thing, and the girls had pizza and a little spinach/ricotta bun. It was too dark really to take any photos of these and, to be honest with you, I practically ate the thing whole because I was so hungry. But if you’re interested in what böreks look like I’ve taken a picture from Google/Wikimedia Commons for you to see:

Day 1: Exploring Zadar City & Locating Lidl

There was an absence of any sort of tea-like beverage in our accommodation, which Alicia found pretty difficult to cope with, and it had been too late to go find any when we’d arrived. So, we promised her we would take a wander into the city, have some nice food and drinks, and then locate the nearest supermarket to track down some Earl Grey.

As we walked into the city (a journey of about 15 minutes because you had to follow the river), we saw some wonderful boats and yachts. They were bobbing in some of the clearest ocean I’d ever seen near a built-up area. Zadar was a very clean place.

Following the quayside, we found another street vendor selling pizzas and hot dog type things. Alicia was hungry so she got a wrap. Check out the pizza slices below. I mean, they’re not Michelin starred or anything, but 10 Kn (just over a pound) for a massive slice was pretty darn good!

After Alicia had eaten, we wandered into the heart of Zadar City to look around. It was like walking back in time with some of the sights (in a good way).

We located Narodni Trg (the People’s Square), which is apparently labelled as such because it is the “centre of public life in Zadar from the Renaissance until today”, and then wandered further through the streets to find some lovely little boutique shops.

These shops sold various things, from girly accessories, home and lifestyle goodies, and even oils and jars of local honey. They were really sweet to browse inside.

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After we’d finished browsing the shops, we headed deeper into the city and found the Five Wells Square, which is home to exactly that: five wells! It is located right next to the oldest park in Croatia – Queen Jelena Madije park. We didn’t go into the park that day as we planned to do that another time.

All of us wanted to see the ocean after that, so we headed off with the help of google maps to lead us in the right direction. It was minutes before we saw it.

It was utterly glorious, so we decided to sit there for a while, soaking up the sun.

When we decided to move on and walk along the seafront, we found lots of little market stalls selling all kinds of things. The sparkly ones caught our eye.

When we walked on a little longer, we found these fabulous flowery bikes!

Oh, yes! Now, this is my kinda thing!

As we walked further up the seafront, we started to hear the faint sounds of the Sea Organ and could see, in the distance, the Greeting to the Sun.

The Sea Organ is a series of steps leading into the ocean with holes cut out of them. Water and air are caught in these holes and create chime-like sounds. Beside it, the Greeting to the Sun is a large circle of solar panel glass. It absorbs energy from the sun during the day and, at night, is able to produce colourful patterns. Both of these attractions are really lovely.

By the time we’d stayed a while here, we were all getting pretty hungry and Alicia was gasping for some tea. So, we headed around the top of the town and found a little restaurant called Konoba Bonaca. The people here were really lovely, and Alicia was finally able to get her English Breakfast!

I selected a seafood risotto, Emily had chicken and potatoes, and Alicia had a vegetable risotto. They were very, very good 🙂

After we’d eaten and chatted a bit with the locals, the sun was starting to go down, so we walked around the town a little bit more and found The Forum. There were still so many people here, and a religious ceremony was taking place. We decided to head back to the apartment before a gorgeous cake shop, aptly called Coffee & Cake, caught our eye! And despite being full, we went inside!

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We made short work of it!

After indulging, we walked back to the apartment to freshen up and get changed before heading off to find Lidl.

We had a wonderful first day in Zadar, and we knew the rest of our time there wouldn’t disappoint!

Catch up on Day 2 here!

Love,