"A beautiful city with kind, welcoming people and delicious feta cheese!"
is how we described our holiday visit to Croatia in May this year.
We felt we picked the perfect time to go as the weather was gorgeous but not too hot. It peaked at around 25 degrees.
Our hotel was located just outside Zadar and was about a half-hour walk or a 15-minute bike ride from our hotel. I highly recommend a cycle around the old town, nice and flat with stunning scenery!
Our hotel came with free bikes, which was a great surprise. Our only regret is we didn't use them more.
The sea was so clear and warmer than the swimming pool on some days, or at least that's how it felt. We went snorkelling and saw schools of fish whilst we carefully looked out for Sea Urchins, hoping not to be impaled and needing a trip to the local hospital.
We cycled around this harbour from the prom, along the front, turned a corner and saw this beautiful harbour with a very narrow path on the outskirts.
These are the little boats but in the harbour were some huge yachts with some clearly very wealthy owners.
A feature in Zadar is the Solar Light Display, which was designed by Croatian architect Nikola Bašić.
The light art installation is called Greeting to the Sun is is based on the Solar System. Powered up by the Sun at dusk, it lights up with smaller installations around this one.
The sunsets here are so good! So orange stretching across the horizon.
I love the lightness of the streets from the natural rock, everything felt so airy and large despite some roads being quite narrow.
We cycled to the Food Market one day and glad we did. Salivating at fresh strawberries and cherries by the punnet. Dandelion leaves were the most interesting new salad leaf I saw there.
There was also a fresh fish market with all sorts of catches that morning.
A reminder of the recent battles in Croatia from the 90's against Serbia. There is a map in the old town where you can see all the places which were damaged.
I enquired with a local taxi driver to give me his account of the history of Croatia and I was so impressed with how he discussed a clearly delicate topic with such knowledge and understanding. It certainly made the airport transfer an interesting one. I love asking a local taxi driver on holiday about the area there knowledge is usually better than any quick online read.
Too many choices of ice cream, we couldn't decide which one to go for!
Geocaches were available in Zadar where we walked through a park on the outskirts of the old town, stumbling across a bar in the woods. We found a few geocaches in Zadar which I was very happy about.
Coffee and Tea was also very reasonably priced; we had change for 2 hot drinks out of 5 euros.
We fell in love with Croatia and the wonderful salty feta that we've been searching for as good as feta since. We have even taken to having Balkan breakfast mornings consisting of bread, cheese and various pickles, including peppers and chillis.
I will leave you with the sound of the Sea Organ, which is a musical installation near the light one mentioned further up.
There are only 3 in the world, Croatia, US and Blackpool of all places in the UK. Need a trip to that one for sure.