The similarities it shares with Split have most to do with their Roman history. After all, the main attraction in Zadar is its Roman forum just across the boardwalk overlooking the Adriatic Sea. Once you reach this area, many of the other attractions of interest will be just a stone’s throw away from one another, so let’s discuss them one by one from a geographical standpoint, because I did not bother to see what many of them look like inside, as far as the churches are concerned.
The Roman Forum dates back to the third century and is known to be the largest in Croatia as well as the entirety of the Roman empire’s eastern flank. What you see is an outdoor exhibit of stone slabs that do not make much sense unless you approach them from an archaeological standpoint. They are mostly the remains of buildings destroyed by an earthquake in the 6th Century. The area then became what is known to be an episcopal complex of Christian buildings and is now a tentative UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The main tourist area of Zadar is the walled old town which is a peninsula jutting out of the mainland with a large green park serving as some sort of link between it and the mainland where you will find the bus station. It is a good 20 minute walk to get from here to there. You can use the walls as a guide to orient you as to where you currently are inside and outside. The space outside the walls are basically just enough for a coastal street and nice boardwalks where you can see some private boats docked.
The old town has several gates preserved from the Roman period. The most popular appears to be the gate connecting the old town to the park, which I did not discover until I was already leaving. Hey, the Uber driver dropped me off inside the city walls, okay? I did not have the luxury of entering like a legit tourist and being welcomed by that gate. Anyway, that gate is intricately designed and you have a dock to your left which flows straight to the Adriatic.
Another prominent gate is one to the north which leads straight to the old bridge connecting the peninsula to the mainland. Aside from the park, this is your only other option for walking back to the mainland without using public transportation. The walls of the old town are totally visible from here. Oh wait, weren’t we discussing the Roman Forum prior to this digression? Damn, we strayed too far.
Fine, back to the Roman Forum! There is a small archaeological museum to the right if you are interested in Zadar’s history dating back to Roman times. I wasn’t in the mood so I skipped that. As for churches, the one you are staring at with the bell tower and circular form is the Church of St. Donatus, which for some reason closed down at 3 PM on the day of my visit. I started roaming around at 4 PM so this was disappointing. It is the largest pre-Romanesque building in Croatia. You need 5 Euros to enter which I would’ve gladly paid. Anyway, I searched for images of its interior online and it looks quite simple.
Across the street is a Benedictine monastery. The alley behind the church, or in front of it depending on your vantage point, seems to be Zadar’s main shopping alley with shops, cafes, and restaurants all around. Suffice it to say that it can get filled with people on certain times of the day. If that suffocates you, you can always evacuate to the open air garden of the Roman Forum or head farther to the Riva for some views of the sea as well as some islands scattered all over the Adriatic. Or head straight east to end up at the people's square.
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