Zadar, Croatia 9/13

 We tied up at the new (at least it looks new) cruise ship terminal at Zadar this morning. After breakfast, Iko and I caught a shuttlebus to the Zadar Old Town. There were several areas that had excavations of  old building foundations and other stoneworks.

Old buildings through a wrought iron gate.

More Old Town. Those limestone paving stones are not wet, they've been polished by thousands of feet everyday.

I forgot to pack a black belt for this trip, so I've been looking for one. We were exploring the backstreets when I saw a leather products store. Stopped in and found a black belt of genuine top grain leather, not the stuff that so often passes for genuine leather nowadays. The problem was that all the belts were size 46 and I wear a 32. The owner said, "No problem, you find the color, size and buckle you like and I'll make it fit." Sure enough, he unscrewed a screw holding the buckle end together, removed the buckle and leather piece holding it, cut the exposed end of the belt, put it back together, and just like that, the belt was my size.

The price was marked 149 Kuna (about $25) but he took 140 even without me bargaining. At a leather goods place along the tourist street a little later I saw a similar belt marked $259 Kn. A little earlier I bought a bottle of water at a drugstore off the beaten path for half the price on the tourist street. It's usually worth hitting the back roads when shopping in tourist areas. 

These ready-made bouquets caught my eye. all were beautiful, some were stunning.

More back street stuff. We came upon a farmers market. These young fig trees had immature fruit on them.

In the same market I saw another florist. Near as I could tell she was offering to make custom bouquets.

The produce all looked good. I could tell a lot of it was locally grown. 

This is the entrance to St Mary's Church, one of the high points of a visit to Zadar. It is noted for its collection of gold and silver icons and relics. 

Here again, the stone pavers on the floor were polished to a high gloss by the feet of the worshipers and tourists like me taking photos.

The inside of the church was impressive. I was allowed to take photos but no flash was allowed.

The pipe organ was silent but it looked grand.

Tired out by our wandering, we caught the shuttle back to the dock and relaxed until dinnertime.