Zadar: The Mysterious Humming Noise and other Tales

Zadar was a rather historical port city which we took a day trip to. It was rather busy so we ended up parking a distance away and enjoying a walk through the park to reach the town. Much better than paying exorbitant parking fees! The entrance to the city lay through the Kopnena Vrata, or Landward Gate. It was an impressive introduction to the city-which I am sure was also its purpose in ancient times. I especially enjoyed the winged lion which was a symbol of the Republic of Venice, a throwback to a time when their empire reached so far.

It was a beautiful day and I was soon overheating in the sunshine, squinting up at the ancient buildings. The Church of Saint Donatus was especially impressive, backing onto the well-preserved remains of the Roman Forum! I really liked this church simply because it had such interesting architecture - after all how often do you see a church this shape? Built in the 9th Century it has an interesting history, serving as a warehouse during the Venetian rule as well as the French occupation. 

Inside it was very minimalist and had an airy and light feeling to it that made it one of my favourite churches I've been to. It had a very different feeling from the usual dark and heavy atmosphere of  the churches of medieval Europe; instead this was built of soaring columns and pale pillars. 

One of the really cool things about this church was that it was built using re-purposed Roman ruins from the forum,so in the walls Roman inscriptions, pillars and carvings were recognizable and very rather interesting for me.

Leaving the quiet of the church behind and stepping back out into the blazing sun, we made our way to the ocean not only for the view but also to hear the intriguing sounding Sea Organ we had heard about. Thirty-five organ pipes lay under the concrete at our feet, the only sign of something unusual was the little holes in the concrete (like the one I am listening to below!) from them drifted a cacophony of soothing sounds. Each change in the strength or direction of the wind and waves changed the notes, creating an every changing humming music. It was a very interesting and delightful thing to experience, but I can only imagine if we had stumbled across it without prior knowledge we would have been very confused as to where the noise was coming from!

We finished the day with a late afternoon trip to the beach, soaking up the sun and enjoying this little island reached by a wooden walkway. The church was tiny, gorgeous and very closed, but we enjoyed its charm from the outside nonetheless.

Things only got better at our lovely and extremely cheap apartment. The owners were extremely friendly, greeting us with pastries and wine. From there it only got better as they offered us a discount for the second night and provided us with fresh grapes from their vines - their lack of English only made their actions kinder as we failed miserably in our Croatian language knowledge.