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Road trip Croatia – part 2

road trip Croatia
Greeting to the Sun | Zadar, Croatia

I left you wondering why we had to be in Zadar before the sunset, so let’s start from there, i.e. from the top of my Zadar must-see list: the Sea Organ and the Greeting to the Sun, a.k.a. the complementary sound and light effects of a beautiful sunset on the sea. 

The Sea Organ is an organ played by the lapping sea.

After the tour of the Plitvice Lakes’ Park followed by a 150-km long drive, what we needed was exactly laying down on its big marble steps, meditating and enjoying the relaxing vibes underneath us. 

Concealed under these steps, in fact, there is a system of polyethene tubes and a resonating cavity that turns the site into a large musical instrument played by the wind and the sea. 

The outcome is that you are breathing in and out the song of the sea, 

while the last sunshine of the day warms your face.

road trip Croatia
Sea Organ | Zadar, Croatia
When the sun is gone, everybody moved a few meters further for the lightening of the Greeting to the Sun, an installation by the same architect (Nikola Bašic). 
 
The Greeting to the Sun consists of 300 multi-layer glass panels set on the same level as the quay paving, shaping a big circle symbolising the sun. The solar plates absorb solar energy during the day and later turn it into unusual light effects, producing an exceptionally impressive game of light to the rhythm of the waves and the music by the Sea Organ.
 
road trip Croatia
Zadar, Croatia
Even if the Zadar’s quay mesmerised us, it was time to eat something. We asked to our landlady for a where-you-would-go-eat-with-your-friends kind of place and she addressed us to a fish restaurant just outside the city wall. Here we tried the best of the Dalmatian cuisine: thin slices of different kinds of raw fish, Dalmatian bruschetta, 
marinated seabass, fish tartare, fish soup, zucchini and prawns rolls… all accompanied by a good Dalmatian white wine. 
 
Then we explored Zadar by night, walking past the church of Saint Donat and wandering around the town centre, which during the day seems an open-air shopping mall but, at night, still shows its genuine charm.
 
road trip Croatia
Zadar, Croatia
Zadar, Croatia
Zadar, Croatia
Tribunj, Croatia
Tribunj, Croatia

Road trip Croatia > Tribunj

On the next morning, after a tasty breakfast with a greasy burek at the farmers’ market, we took the Road 27 heading to the little fishermen village of Tribunj and, after a quick rest on the beach, we sat in a nice restaurant on a terrace (“Pijero Restaurant”, where I had a memorable octopus salad).
road trip Croatia
Tribunj, Croatia

 

road trip Croatia
Road 8, Croatia
Krapanj, Croatia
Krapanj, Croatia

Exiting Tribunj, we met what soon became the best companion of our Croatian road-trip: the Road number 8.

From here on, we had never felt apart. 

During all the time we were driving along the Dalmatian coast, we stayed faithful to its rocks, to its landscapes ranging from Mediterranean to dry, its scenic sunsets, the bends, the wind and the bushes from red to yellowish, or from green to brownish, its peculiar scent of fish mixed with fuel, of saltiness and cattle, its rhythm and its character.

The best aspect of the Road number 8 is that it allows you to admire the Croatian villages underneath you; and it has been from this privileged point of view that we spotted Brodalica, a village just in front of the Krapanj island. (to be honest, at first we though that Krapanj was the village, and it was just a few hundreds of meters to the romantic tiny pier that we realized it actually was an island!).

road trip Croatia
Krapanj, Croatia
Unfortunately there was no way to reach the tiny island, so we kept driving until we spotted Bilo, an almost deserted small inlet faced by two big atolls. Here we just relaxed, reading a book and swimming until the sunset.
 
road trip Croatia
Bilo, Croatia

Even if, according to our original plan, we were supposed to visit the Solinar archaeological site on that afternoon, laying on Bilo’s beach felt so nice that we decided to stay, until it eventually was pretty late and we had to rush to our apartment in Split. 

road trip Croatia
Bilo, Croatia

But that’s another story…          …Go to PART 3

This article has been published on Thinking Nomads; to read it in Italian, check Non Solo Turisti website! 

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Hello, my name is Giulia. I blog about unconventional destinations, abandoned places, street art, graffiti, the outskirts, urban landscapes, weird spots and basically all the places I happen to visit and become very enthusiastic about. In 2018 I moved to Amsterdam to become the content manager of the world's museum for graffiti and street art.