Thu Sept 4 - Sun Sept 7 We arrived at Zadar and checked into the marina for 3 days. The harbor is very busy with big ferries and charter boats. The marina we were in had at least 40 yachts for charter and there were two other marinas nearby. When we arrived (Thursday), the charter docks were almost empty and they put us in that area. We took our papers over to the harbormaster so we could extend our Croatian cruising permit a few days as it was expiring the day we arrived. At the end of our dock there was a row boat that ferried people across the harbor entrance over to the old city (where everything was), otherwise it's a very long walk around the marina to the foot bridge -saved us at least 30 minutes. We took that and it dropped us right near the harbormaster's office. The office was crowded that afternoon and it took some time, but we successfully extended for the minimum, which was 8 days. By the time we got done with the Harbormaster, it was long past lunchtime, so we made a quick dash into the old city and ate at the first place we came to which was basically a pizza parlor. We ordered a pizza and salad and it really hit the spot. The next morning we were asked to move to a different location as Friday is the day for the charters to return to port and indeed those docks were full by the end of the day. We had started some sewing projects and getting out the sewing machine means emptying a lot of things out of the forward berth storage lockers. All this "stuff" was sitting out on the back deck and in the cockpit and we really looked like "trailer trash". We had to rearrange things a bit to give us room to maneuver as we re-med-moored the boat in a new spot. The new spot didn't have any running water, which we realized when we wanted to spray off the boat and fill our water tanks. But otherwise it was conveniently located closer to the showers and marina office. So we elected not to move yet again to get water. We cranked for about a day and a half on the sewing projects: new (and in some cases just patched) fender covers which had shredded on the concrete dock in Preveza, a cover to protect the dinghy from the sun when it is sitting on deck, repair work on the sail covers, repair work on a couple of Dennis' sweatshirts that had some adventures of their own (like melted sleeves which rested up against the muffler on the quad we rented in Santorini). Actually Dennis had to spend a few hours at the start of the project diagnosing a problem with the machine. But once diagnosed and fixed, it ran like a dream. While Virginia focused on the sewing projects, Dennis tackled the main boom gooseneck that was showing some wear. Not an easy considering his right thumb was swollen to twice its normal size from his fall during the waterfall hike but he managed to get the job done.

After putting away the sewing machine and all the "stuff", we explored the city. We found the open air produce market, which we love to visit, and stocked up. Fig production is big around Zadar and they were just getting ripe so were seeing piles and piles of them -tempted to buy some but it was still early in the season. Old city of Zadar has an ancient wall around three sides with big stone archway gates. The primarily "walking only" streets are paved with large, rectangular stones worn quite smooth by centuries of traffic. Like Dubrovnik, the town was a mixture of souvenir shops, restaurants, and ancient sites. We visited the Museum of Ancient Glass. It was an impressive collection of mainly 1st and 2nd century BC glass jars, plates, jewelry, etc. that have been uncovered in Zadar digs and shipwrecks. The exhibits were well done and there was lots of English signage explaining the evolution of glass production (which was first discovered in ancient Mesopotamia or Egypt) and the significance of the various pieces exhibited. One room had an exhibit of modern glass sculptures - amazingly we both had the same favorite, but we didn't dare ask the price - just moved right along. We wanted to climb the bell tower of the St. Anastasia Cathedral. When we arrived there a wedding had just ended and we got to see some of the Croatian traditions, namely several musical groups playing outside the front of the church to greet the wedding party and guests and walk them through the streets to the reception. That was an unexpected treat. We walked the 180 steps up the bell tower around 1900 and the bells tolled as we were climbing - loud, but fun. The bells and tower architecture are beautiful, as is the 360 view from the top. We wandered the streets and saw the Captain's tower, two pillars standing alone - one on each end of the city where one was called the Pillar of Shame, several churches, and several dig sites. We were headed towards the southern waterfront where there is a promenade and two artistic exhibits. A sea organ has been constructed under the promenade. There are very shallow steps where you sit (along with 100 of your newest friends) and listen to the sounds that the sea makes as it washes through the organ mechanism. The sounds are indeed like organ music - very nice. It was busy when we were there at sunset, but still plenty of room for us to sit and enjoy. A short distance away is the "Greeting to the Sun". It is a huge circle of solar panels embedded in the sidewalk which soak up power all day and at dusk, a program runs that lights up hundreds of colored lights in the panel - until the power runs out. Enjoyed both of these seaside active art works. We noticed that they were setting up a production in the Forum outdoor area nearby. They said the performance would start at 2100 so we went to a nearby restaurant for some dinner. The restaurant was named Amore and the food was wonderful. Dennis had veal risotto and Virginia had pork loin with grilled vegetables. As an aside - there is a lot of pasta and pizza on the menus in Croatia. We have to look to find something that is not what we think of as "Italian" as we know we'll get a lot of that in the next country! We then went back to the outdoor performance which was called "Credo". It wasn't in English, but we knew the story so we could follow along. Some of the first scenes we saw were the nativity, John the Baptist, the sermon on the mount with the miracle of the loaves and fishes. The stage set was ingenious; a low hill that separated and rotated. By the time we got there it was standing room only so we didn't stay for the full performance. We had a long walk back to the marina as the row boat ferry doesn't run at night.

In Zadar we ran into some friends we had made back in Greece - Richard and Juliet on Chance Encounter. When we were about to hop into the row boat for our first ferry ride, we saw them getting out of the boat. We stayed to talk to them for a bit to catch up on where we had both been since we last saw them in Galaxidi (Delphi), but unfortunately they were heading out within the hour so we didn't get to spend time with them.

We enjoyed our time in Zadar both the productive time knocking off some boat projects as well as the touring of the city. We were there just three nights. On Sunday Sept 7 we checked out of Croatia, filled up with diesel, and sailed about 20 miles to the most western of the Croatian islands in our path towards Italy. Stopping there for the night allowed us to make the run across the Adriatic to Ancona, Italy a 68 mile day - doable in daylight hours.