Zadar and Pag Island - Wind, Wind Wind
Trip Start
Sep 13, 2006
1
26
85
Trip End
May 25, 2007
Zadar,
Croatia
Saturday, December 9, 2006
Zadar had the same unaffordable shops that dotted all the old towns in this country and to make the place look lovelier all the Christmas lights hung from trees, buildings and over streets. It was magical. One notable place we found in the city was the nun-run reliquary museum. For all you non-Catholics, reliquaries are special boxes or containers that hold bones of various saints. Saint bones were big business in the middle ages and lots of money was spent on these. Most were gold plated and jewel encrusted. Some were in the shape of the body part they were holding (finger shaped, clavicle shaped or arm shaped). A few gave a glimpse of the bone but most didn't. We asked the nuns if the bones were still in there and they assured us they were. They had around 100 pieces there and each room had a friendly but watchful nun keeping an eye on things.
The other city site that we enjoyed a lot was a "Sea Organ" that was on the waterfront promenade. Here is our so-so video. It is hard to explain how it works, but it is full of different sized pipes and the wind and waves blow air through making a very haunting sound. We thought it would be great in Seattle except it is 24/7 so some neighbors of the thing might not appreciate it
As a side trip from Zadar we decided to take a bus to Pag Island for the day. It is not the normal "resort type" island, but looks almost like the surface of the moon. It is famous for three things in Croatia: Pag Lace, which is made with needles (like in Venice) instead of bobbins (like in Belgium), Paski Sir cheese and salt. The wind blows on the island continuously and the salty sea air is said to make the region ideal for salt production. It meant big bucks for whatever old empire managed to capture it and to this day all the salt we saw on grocery store shelves was from Pag. The Paski Sir cheese is the most expensive in Croatia and it is said that the cheese's flavor comes from the salt blown grass and sage that the sheep eat here. We already had some Pag salt, but we bought some lace and cheese. Cheese is much cheaper there and buying lace in the winter was really a bargain. We were the only tourists to show up there all week so they were just happy to have some business.
We met a sailor there who spoke great English and he insisted that we have a coffee with him. It was hard to tell his age because his face was so weather beaten from being out at sea for so many decades. He was probably in his late 60's. He was a lot of fun to talk to because he sailed all over the world. Not only had he been to Seattle, he had also been to Dar es Salaam. Many men from Croatia became sailors which is really a great way to see the world (at least all the port towns). His stories were fascinating and he had opinions of every city from good; "That city had the most beautiful women in the world..." to bad "People in that city would kill you for a dollar! The whole place was full of crooks". He now run a scuba boat in the clear water around the island in the summer and tells tales in the winter. Even today Croatian men are working around the world as sailors. One of Cousin Nina's sons works as a sailor on cruise ships in the Caribbean and had many stories to tell. She said he was especially surprised by how old the passengers are. I bet. We told her to tell him that he needs to work the route to Alaska so he can see his cousins in Seattle.
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