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Published: August 2nd 2013
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Sunday July 30 – Last night did not, in fact, involve the newest episode of True Blood, but there will be time for tv later. We got up early, as always, because as Tina is learning, traveling with me is fun, and we got to the bus station 15 minutes early for our 9:30am bus to Zadar. The bus ride was pretty quick, for Croatia distances, and we arrived at 11:15am. We got our onward ticket to Split for tomorrow and then waited for the local bus to the downtown for what seemed like an eternity. We technically could have walked it in about 20 minutes or so, but it was over 90 degrees F and we had our bags, and with my looming sciatica problem this did not seem appealing at all. We were only staying for one night, and because Croatia is far more expensive than expected, we booked two beds in a four person dorm. We could not check in until 2pm, so we left our big backpacks in the common room and walked around to see the town. Our location was excellent, as we were right across from the church tower. We ate a slice of pizza
for lunch, took lots of pictures of the old town. It’s rather a good old town too. We also walked outside the walls of the old town to the water. This is our first coastal town in Croatia, and it’s already beautiful. I liked it immediately. Zagreb was ok, but just a city. This part of Zadar just felt good and fun and alive to be in.
At 2pm we came back to check in, since everything is close by. This hostel is a little different. It’s a boutique hostel, which some interesting changes. We still had bunk beds, but they were enclosed, almost like little pods. We had two “windows” out that both had a shade that could be pulled down. Each bed had a light and two plugs. There were still problems, though, as at any hostel, like not much room to walk in the room, our big bags did not fit in the lockers and there was not a lot of room to keep them elsewhere, etc. We didn’t have roommates yet, but I was pretty sure we would, looking at how busy the town was. Before leaving the hostel, we asked about good food options.
There were two other American girls there from California, and they asked if we wanted to go eat with them. I would have liked to, but they were having a late lunch and we had already eaten. We never saw them again, but they seemed like cool girls.
We went back our and headed to the water again to the sea organ, which is unique in the world and very cool. There is no beach here, as it is a rocky coast, but they have a large row of built in steps in one place that go down into the water, and people swim from here. Into the steps they have built in pipes that produce sounds when the waves force air through them, so there is a constant song in the air. It is really very nice. We sat here for a bit, dipped our feet in the freezing water, and watched people jump and dive in with a fearlessness than I have never developed around cold water. Afterwards we walked to a church that was now open and went inside. At least I did. The guy told Tina her shorts were too short, but he let me
in to take a look around. No photos were allowed.
When it was time for dinner, we went to one place on our map that the hostel woman had mentioned, but I thought it was too expensive. So we tried the next and it looked good, but only had four tables. We saw someone was about to leave and made a go for the table, but two other girls were doing the same. I asked if we could all share the table, since it was for four, and they agreed. They were Croatian and we didn’t really talk after that, but it was nice to sit down and eat. Tina and I shared our meals of fish and chips and calamari, and it was a good meal.
From dinner we headed back to the water, in time for the sunset. So many people were out and about. I’m usually not out much in the evening, which is hilarious because everyone else is. It was a really nice sunset and we took a lot of pictures, both of it and ourselves. It is fun to be silly with a friend, kind of weird to do it alone,
so I took advantage now. We were sitting at the sea organ again for this, and again, it was just nice to have a constant natural music in the background. We even put our ears to the ground to listen better. Next we walked over to this circle built into the ground that has solar panels of some sort that collect light all day long and then release it as color displays that are supposed to simulate the solar system all night. More silly pictures and we were ready to call it a night. Tomorrow is another early morning. On the walk back to the hostel I got a few good pictures of the main square lit up, and we watched a guy painting for a few minutes. As feared, being in a dorm still sucks, no matter how cool it looks. Our roommates came in as we were reading and they were whispering, but in that loud pretend whisper, even after I turned off my light. The bathroom was right by my bed and one of the girls sat there brushing her teeth with the door open. Then it sounded like they were repacking a bit. Now it was
11pm and I had to get up at 5:30. Needless to say, I was not happy. Grrrrrr.
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