Sunday, 11 April. Breakfast was included in the price of our rooms, so we had that in the Novi
Park’s dining room. It was much less crowded than last night, thank goodness! As we sat down, we discovered a
colored egg hidden under each coffee cup, a reminder that it was Easter Sunday. The breakfast
was the best of the whole trip. In addition to the egg, we had a tasty ham and three kinds of rolls,
one of them deliciously sweet. The boys finished first and asked to be excused. When we finished, we couldn’t find them at first. Finally, I looked on the shore of the inlet in front of the Novi Park, and there they were. Randall was on his stomach, hanging precariously over the sea wall. He pulled up two little crabs just as I arrived to rescue him.
We checked out of the hotel and drove into central Zadar. We parked next to the bridge leading
into the old city (built on a peninsula) and walked across, entering through the Porta Marina
(1573). We
wanted to go to Mass, so we found our way to St. Anastasia (St. Stosija) Cathedral (13th
century) where a friendly priest told us (in German) that the next Mass was at 11:30.
That gave us time to look around the ruins of the Roman Forum (just around the corner). This was once the largest forum on the east side of the Adriatic, though it's mostly rubble now. The Church of St. Mary (11th century), located on the Forum, had been seriously damaged in World War II and was still just a shell, although reconstruction was underway. We also visited St. Donat’s Church (early 9th century, now a museum), considered by many to be Zadar’s most outstanding monument. We went back to the Cathedral for Mass, then walked down the main street. No cars were allowed in the old city, and it reminded us of Venice in some ways.
We left Zadar and started driving down the coast road again. We drove into Vodice and looked
around. It had a quaint little waterfront and a complex of modern hotels, but we decided to go on
to the medieval port of Sibenik for lunch. We had a hard time finding a decent-looking place to
eat there, but finally located the modern Solaris Hotel and ate there. The town
has a big castle but we decided not to turn the boys loose there.
Back on the coast road, our next stop was Trogir, situated on a small island squeezed in between the mainland and the larger island of Ciovoa. This quaint and quiet little town has Greek and Roman roots, but the Venetian influence predominates. Trogir prospered after its capture by the Venetians in 1420. A bridge connects the town to the mainland. Although cars are allowed on the island, they may not enter the old city. We parked near the Kastel Karmalengo (15th century Venetian fortress) on the mainland. There was a soccer game going on behind it, in fact, between it and the Tower of St. Mark (also 15th century Venetian) and the Marmont Gloriette (built by one of Napoleon’s generals).
We left the boys at the game and walked into the town, passing the Venetian Gothic Loggia just outside the Town Gate. The influence of Venice was pervasive but, unlike Venice, the town was quiet and uncrowded.. We walked down a narrow lane to the main square where we saw the Cipiko Palace (15th century) and the Town Hall (14-15th century). We also went through St. Lawrence (Sv. Lovro)’s Cathedral (13th century).
We went back for the boys, then drove south down the beautiful Riviera of the Seven Castles, past Solin (Salona), and into Split. We couldn't find the Split Hotel where we had reservations. In fact, we had trouble finding any hotel. We finally wound up at the Marjan, most expensive in the city ($12.00 per double room with bath), located on a hill with a nice view of the harbor. Breakfast was included, and it had a heated indoor pool, but the hotel was really falling apart. It was the worst-maintained place we stayed in. After the boys took a swim, we ate at the hotel. Then we left the boys in their rooms and wandered into the casino. There wasn’t much action, though, only one roulette table. We’re not gamblers anyway, so we called it a night.
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