Trip Report: Athens and a Mediterranean Cruise
Lounge Reviews: The Club CLT and Centurion Lounge Charlotte Airport
Flight Review: Lufthansa A340-600 Charlotte-Munich
Lodging Review: Academias Hotel, Autograph Collection, Athens
Our Time in Athens, Part I (Acropolis and Museum)
Our Time in Athens, Part II (Roman Agora, Hadrian’s Library, Ancient Agora)
Our Time in Athens, Part III (Kerameikos, Temple of Zeus, Panathenaic Stadium)
Our Time in Athens, Part IV (Restaurants and Observations)
Ship Review: Viking Neptune
Our Time in Ancient Olympia (Katakalon, Greece)
Our Time in Corfu, Greece
Our Time in Kotor, Montenegro
Our Time in Dubrovnik, Croatia
Our Time in Zadar, Croatia
Our Time in Venice, Italy
Flight Review: Iberia A330-300 Madrid-Chicago
A Curveball
Our only major curveball of the trip happened on Thursday, when we were due to stop in Split, Croatia, a place I’d heard quite a bit about but had never visited. But that plan changed with an announcement on Wednesday evening.
Our final port of call was Venice, or more accurately, Chioggia, which is still part of the greater Venice Lagoon. For many years Venice has been prone to flooding due in part to the fact that many of the buildings are constructed on “land” that is supported by pilings and those pilings have naturally settled into the seabed as the centuries progressed. To combat this a project called MOSE (or in English, Moses – because it parts the sea) was implemented which installed rows of mobile sea gates on the floor of the lagoon. This prevents flooding during high tides and any time the sea level becomes a danger to the city.
Due to an impending acqua alta high tide and compounded by recent rains in the area, the MOSE barriers were going to be raised earlier than planned. If we stopped in Split, the ship would not have time to reach the lagoon before the barriers rose.
At this point I was expecting that we’d just sail straight for Venice though if I’d thought about it I’d have realized there might be issues like if there was a dock available for us, etc. But two days instead of one in Venice wouldn’t be all bad. But Viking had something else in mind. We sailed past Split and instead docked in Zadar, Croatia, which is about an hour-and-a-half (by car) further north on the Croatian coast.
We’d signed up for the included walking tour of Split and paid for an excursion to Ancient Salona & Medieval Trogir but, of course, those were now no longer options. Instead we used the credit from the optional tour for one called Picturesque Zadar Hinterland that was only offered in the morning. Unfortunately it returned us to the ship too late for the only afternoon included walking tour so we just did a quick spin in the Old Town by ourselves.
Picturesque Zadar Hinterland
Novigrad
Our first stop was a scenic overlook of the town of Novigrad where we could clearly see the remains of the castle that once stood atop the hill.
Novigrad as viewed from the Overlook
The town is quite small, only 2375 inhabitants in the 2011 census. Like most cities in the area it was under the rule of the Republic of Venice for awhile, interrupted by Ottoman occupation, and passed back and forth through various republics before Croatia gained its independence in the war of 1991-95.
The town is in a narrow bay of the Novigrad Sea, which is abundant in fish and shellfish so fishing and boating are very popular here. Our bus dropped us off right beside a small marina.
Novigrad Marina
We stopped by the local parish church, with its lovely old bells.
We visited the historic Tower House where the lowest level had a map of the area, presumably from the days it was part of the Republic of Venice since the map is in Italian.
Map of Old Novigrad
There were also some old-school cannonballs around, just in case of a renewed attack!
Cannonballs Await!
Upstairs the house is decorated as it was a long time ago.
Hinterlands
I confess I don’t know where we ended up for our lunchtime snack. We were out in the country where the man pictured below has a farm and invites groups in for a lite snack as illustrated. He dresses in traditional costume and plays instrument (a lute?). Everything we ate was grown nearby and he offered wine for sale in the courtyard when we’d finished.
It was interesting to see the country away from the city. There were so many houses without roofs or that had clearly been abandoned. We were told that’s because these houses were damaged during the Croatian war for independence (1991-95) and/or the people who owned the houses had left or had been killed and now it was very difficult to trace back who owned them. I suppose eventually the property will default to the state and then it can be sold but for now it’s just sad to see.
Zadar
After a quick lunch on the ship, we took one of Viking’s shuttle buses to Old Town Zadar. Though we had never heard of Zadar, it’s the oldest continuously inhabited city in Croatia and is the fifth-largest city in the country.
Sea Organ
The bus let us out very close to the Sea Organ, a set of tubes located underneath these marble steps which are “played” when the sea waves flow into them. It received the European Prize for Urban Public Space in 2006. It doesn’t make for good photographs but it was interesting to hear!
The Sea Organ was created in 2005
Roman Forum
One of the most interesting parts of the old town is the Roman Forum, or what remains of it. It’s the largest forum on the eastern side of the Adriatic and was founded by the first Roman Emperor Augustus. Two stone inscriptions indicate it was completed in the 3rd century AD. While much of the Roman remains were later used in the fortification of the city, this large area remains with some interesting items like this Pillar of Shame, where people were chained to it and publicly mocked and/or whipped.
Pillar of Shame
Just around the corner from the pillar is the Church of St. Elijah, an Orthodox church built in the late 18th century.
The Church of St. Donatus is named in honor of the bishop who began construction on the building in the 8th century. The church once had a dome but now has a circular roof. In addition to its use as a church it’s been a warehouse and an archaeological museum. It’s currently a concert venue because of its acoustics.
Church of St. Donatus and the belltower of the Cathedral
Across the forum is the Church of St. Mary, a Benedictine monastery founded in 1066. Its belltower dates to 1105. It was bombed during WW II but has since been rebuilt.
Church of St. Mary. Naturally the belltower in the background is covered in scaffolding!
In the Forum area there are still some Roman objects. Some like these were used to build the base of St. Donatus.
Ancient Roman Artefact
There is no shortage of churches in Old Town Zadar. This is the Church of St. Chrysogonus, a Roman Catholic church named after the patron saint of the city. He was a martyr who was persecuted and eventually killed by the emperor Diocletian. This building dates to 1175 and is the only remaining part of a large medieval Benedictine abbey.
Church of St. Chrysogonus
The city was fortified during the time of Julius Caesar and Emperor Augustus, which puts it to just around the time of Christ. Here’s just one of the gates and you can see how thick the city walls are. Zadar is another part of the Venetian Works of Defense, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Zadar City Gate
In the end
Zadar is a lovely little city and I wish we’d been able to take advantage of one of the walking tours so that I’d have had a better understanding of what I was seeing at the time. I hate that we missed seeing Split but I guess that just gives us a reason to come back another time!
2B Traveling 
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