Random Notes, Zadar

Another Bright Day on the Adriatic

Another bright morning on the Adriatic sea.  The days blend into a stream of walking, talking, sitting, laughing, and eating good food.  There are times when travel is not movement, but rather a falling into time, a sense of settling more deeply into a place than movement alone could accomplish.  The charitable act of giving oneself time.

A Day to Ponder

Stone and sea and sun, following the water to the old piers south of the city.  Men working on their boats, scraping, painting.  Working men with working boats.  The thrumming of the big auto-ferries sliding across the glassy harbor.

 The Dreaded Zadarosaur

A found object guards the harbor from a stub of an abandoned pier.  It was just there, placed exactly where I photographed it. 

New Town Viewed from the Old Walls

Glancing off of the busy Old Town, sliding along through the shade atop the battlements.  Peering down at tourists from the vantage of hidden perches.  We have begun to learn the back passages and the untraveled pathways.  

It is a game created with an friend, the City Game.  The parameters are thus and so.  One will be provided with money sufficient for a month's worth of expenses and a modest studio apartment.  Without luxury, or the luxury of retreat, this little apartment will be one's home for a month.  The game is simple:  Which city do you chose?  My friend and I agree on some cities, disagree on others:  Napoli was his first choice.  I have since come to see his reasons.  Barcelona is a mutual favorite. Lisboa is my choice and he will have to do his own research.  Now I would propose to add either Zadar or Zagreb to the list, depending on personal taste.

A Healthy Alt-Meal

Wok stir-fry, Octopus Rissoto, Tuna in Tumeric.  An Alt-Cafe tucked onto the edge of the forum in the Old City.  Surprise, surprise.  I can only see it if my eyes are open.

The New Dead

The Yugoslav Wars were not imagined, nor was the cemetery across the train lines.  These are the newly dead, or so I think of them.  Here lie some of the people who perished in the horrific struggle between the Croats and the Serbs in the 1990's.  During those dark times, Zadar was a city that was hotly contested.

The Old Dead

And the Old Dead.  There are a great many graves here in this immense cemetery.  Italian families buried their loved ones here, laying the bones in Croatian soil.

The Farthest Steps of the Day

Our farthest point away from the Old City brought us to a cafe' along a sparkling harbor.  The cafe' was dotted with folks in scrubs, talking a break from the clinic next door.

 

The Gloaming

There is that magic time when sea and sun meld, when light dances.  Our eyes are dazzled but we cannot look away.  We pause, even the busiest of we poor humans, to mark the passing.

Shiksa for the Hunger

To be welcomed back to that same restaurant, recognized after just a single visit.  An ephemeral bit of familiarity.  

Geckos for Luck

Nightfall, the last nightfall in Zadar.  Where did the time go?  It was days stretching into days, it was an instant.  Gecko for luck, Gecko for safe travel.  We gather the omens and icons about us, sort them like seashells, then dump them all into the same basket.