Croatia Trip - Day 8 - Zadar

-

Zadar was attacked by different tribes such as Turks, Venetian, Austrian, Italian, etc.  It tells why one can see Austrian styled buildings, Venetian lion on gates, Italian cafe and so on.


We started the day with a visit at the square of 5 wells, followed by a small scale botanical garden, art of a few churches, church treasury. There displayed a lot of Saints' relics.  It means finger, hand, heart or any part of the body in an ornamental piece of cylinder or else.  For modern people, it's scary and not hygienic.  But the ancient people believed that a power was associated and meant protection.   The highlight is an ascend to the tower of Saint Anastasia's Cathedral (Katedrala Sv. Stosije) with a superb panoramic view of the city.



Swimming is a favourite activity in Croatia in summer.  This time we headed for a quite island nearby.  Boats ran around every 40 to 50 minutes.  We just missed one.  Killing time was easy.  Just headed to any cafe, sipping coffee and watching people come and go.  Our island was quiet.  Only we were there, we could enjoy the cool water and natural beauty.  What a day!  Slowly we walked back to the pier and looked forward to a sumptuous dinner.




We passed by this lovely restaurant, Lungo Mare, during the day.  It had a terrace overlooking the Drazenica Bay, was famous for seafood and the best wine list in town.  It's also recommended in Timeout Croatia.  So, our choice was confirmed.  We made a booking for the evening.  It turned out that it was a good choice.  Good food accompanied with great view and fabulous white wine.  A day closed with a perfect dinner.  What could we ask for more?

Location: Zadar, Croatia

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Croatia Trip - Split - Baptistery & Mt. Marjan

-
Image
In the 5th morning we visited the temple of Jupita (Baptistery), Meštrović museum and hiked up to Mt Marjan.  The baptistery is for total immersion.  It is beautifully crafted.  Next to it is a statue of Saint John the Baptist.  Meštrović museum is detailed in another section.  Please refer to Day 5 Split - Ivan Mestrovic We started the climb of Mt. Marjan around midday.  The sun was high.  The ascend was quite steep.  But the view over the town was spendid.  The path was barren.  We hardly saw any people, perhaps one workman who was on duty.  There were some Romanesque churches along the way.  The first one looked bright white under the sun.  It's beautiful.   Continued on the white 'sandy' path, second and third churches came into view.  Hu hu, destination reached!  For a while the sky turned cloudy.  It did not rain, fortunately.  We went to a public swimming place to immerse into the water after the sweating walk.  Yeah yeah we did not know previously
Read more

Kbal Spean

-
Image
Kbal Spean is a unique archaeological site situated 50km from the Siem Reap.   Religious stone cravings sit on the river banks and bed, 150m stretch of the Stung Kbal Spean River.     Kbal Spean is commonly known as the "Valley of a 1000 Lingas " or "The River of a Thousand Lingas". Lingas are phallic representations sacred to Brahmanism.   It is a symbol of fertility.   Hundreds of them are carved into the rock of the river.   Other carvings include gods such as Vishnu , Shiva , Brahma and animals. To appreciate the beautiful carvings in the nature, one has to climb a trek for around 30 minutes.   Exhausted but worthwhile. Reclining Vishnu is often the theme of carvings.   Others include Shiva and Uma mounted on the bull, Brahma on a lotus petal and still others which I can't figure out exactly. Animals, lingas, yoni dot here and there.            Downdream is a waterfall. On the way is another spot with carving
Read more

Hong Kong Heritage Museum - The Hakkas and Fishing Origin

-
Image
15 June 2012 HK Heritage Museum - Hakka Women It has been more than 10 years that I haven't been to the Hong Kong Heritage Museum .  Today, a Picasso exhibition brought me back.  Hmm, a Spanish artist associating with the Chinese heritage.  It's a special event of the French May .  It drew a lot of people to the museum, though a bit remote.  People, family speaking different languages crowded at the venue.  Picasso 's paintings shown were across his different periods.  Many photos of him and friends were also shown. Hong Kong Heritage Museum is unique in providing the history of Hong Kong, featuring Hakka (Guest family) migration, as a fishing village, the traditional Cantonese opera as the integral parts of Hong Kong's heritage, history and culture. During the reign of Yongzheng and Qianlong of Qing Dynasty (18th century), people were encouraged to utilise wasteland for farming.  A big demographic shift of residents in the south moved to Hong Kong. Th
Read more