Zadar, Croatia

Our second stop on our cruise was Zadar, Croatia.  Like Koper, this was also a smaller city which allowed our ship to dock right next to the city.  This city has been around for hundreds of years, and has some nice ancient ruins you can tour.  Despite having ancient ruins, the town has a municipal free wifi that was actually faster than our ships, making it easy to use maps on our phones to get around.

The biggest draw of the city to us was this unique ocean organ, located next to where our ship docked.  The ocean front area has solar panels where represent the solar system with the sun and surrounding planets extending out across the waterfront as seen below.  At night, the solar panels light up, although we left port at 3:30 PM local time, so we did not get to experience this aspect of the town.

Right next to the solar panels is the ocean organ.  This is a a 230 foot underwater instrument, working similar to traditional organs although run by water instead of air.  The ocean currents and waves result in random sounds emanating across the port.  It wasn't too windy on the day we were there, but there was still enough of water movements to create some sounds.

Our tour then proceeded to the ancient Roman ruins.  One of the main areas is a sacrificial altar, no longer in use, locate below sculptures of Zeus and Medusa.

Surrounding the ruins were a few churches, with the most prominent one being Saint Donutas Church, often nicknamed the Donut due to its round shape and name.  Apparently there are still musical performances within the church a few times a year.

After touring the ruins, we then went off on our own to check out the local markets.  We were in the city on a Saturday, so we got to experience plenty of open-air markets and try some samples of the local cheese and honey.

After buying some souvenirs, we decided to explore outside the old city walls, with the ubiquitous Venetian Lion touring above all the gateways.  We then made our way down to the beach areas.  These were mostly pebble beaches, with locals being the primary visitors.  These offered some great views and a relaxing atmosphere, although we weren't adventurous enough to get in the water.

 We also explored the city park located within the city, with great views of the ocean and the nearby lagoon.

There is also a maritime museum which we were told was worth checking out, although we did not make the time to explore inside.

Overall, Zadar was a fun town with a few unique aspects, but it was not nearly as impressive as our next stop of Dubrovnik, Croatia.