if you are reading this you are interested in visiting Zadar Croatia or you are already here. Either way, we will do our best to welcome you and show you around. It is interesting to see the most searched keyword for Zadar is “Zadar weather”. Strange if we know Zadar has more than 300 sunny days in a year. So, keep calm and enjoy our town. We hope you will get new ideas after finishing this post.
We will not go deep into the history of Zadar, rich cultural heritage and Infos you can read almost everywhere on the net. For most of you they are boring. Our goal and goal of this blog is to provide you inside look, beyond tourism mask, from the eyes of local people, born and raised in this town. If you are anything like us you arrived here (or would arrive) to see, feel and experience something different. To see real people, real lifestyle, real life, beyond any masks. That’s why we are going to cover Zadar from a different angle.
Fjaka- Welcome to Dalmatian way of meditation
Visiting Zadar without syncing your heart beats with a lazy Dalmatian mindset called Fjaka (pronounced ‘f-ya-kah), would be a terrible mistake. We know you want to see everything as soon as possible, we know you are running from one spot to another… but… wait… you are on vacation, you arrived to enjoy not to run.
If you are sitting in a restaurant or cafe and you didn’t get your coffee for 30 minutes, although the restaurant is empty, relax… coffee will be there, sooner or later (probably later). Fjaka is a way of life, it is “mindful meditation” with no intent. Everything will be all right, just relax. Your bus will be late, but it will arrive. Your food will be late but it will arrive. “Fjaka” looks like laziness and irresponsibility to those on the outside or receiving end. But it is not! We believe in this hectic world where everyone running and casing something we need more Fjaka in this world. So, take a deep breath, and relax. Everything will be ok. Try to immerse yourself into this mentality and accept it, at least for a while. You will feel better and calmer.
More than more- Welcome to Zadar history
“More” means sea in Croatian. And yes we know, you heard for Zadar thanks to Sea organs and greeting to the Sun, but Zadar is much more. Ironically, these two installations have more meaning for most of the tourists than more than 3000 years old Forum just a 100 meters away. But we are not here to judge. Zadar is full of history, a rich history. Zadar is the oldest continuously-inhabited Croatian city. It is difficult to choose what to see first, the church of St.Donatus from 9th century, Romanian forum or just walk around thousands of years old streets. Zadar is much more than sea and sun but those two are connected in the most magnificent sunset in the world. At least according to Alfred Hitchcock. On the occasion of his visit to Zadar, in May 1964, while observing the luxurious game played by the sun the Maestro said: »Zadar has the most beautiful sunset in the world, more beautiful than the one in Key West, in Florida, applauded at every evening.«
There is great opportunity to experience both from private sailing sunset tours organized every evening. Be sure to bring your camera with you.
Outside the old city
Zadar old city is crowded with people during the summer season. You can barely walk. That is the destiny of every (popular) city. You will see very few locals in “the town” during the summer season. That’s why we suggest exploring around. We will publish a whole new category of detailed posts focused on the Zadar area and we will not go into details here. This will unveil the hidden spots you should see while in Zadar which 99% of the tourist never visits. Small towns and suburbs around. like Diklo, Arbanasi, Sukošan, Bibinje still breath in the same traditional way of life. That is especially true for Zadar islands. Those small traditional villages aren’t changed much. The same goes for the hinterland of Zadar, touristically less attractive, thus more traditional and original than the seaside.
We will cover them in future posts, but our advice now is; go further, explore beyond the old city. Dalmatians are hospitable and immediate, sit with them, ask them questions, they will be glad to help you and get deeper in conversation with you.
We hope this short post will help you to learn more about Zadar Croatia and give you just a quick look at locals here.