Zadar

25 June

We had been advised by our host that we had to try the Croatian dish Peka, but it had to be ordered at least an hour in advance.  So we booked into a recommended restaurant for lunch.

After a lazy morning and swim we set out for lunch.  The restaurant had a cart wheel theme with many tables and benches having wheels at each end.  In the inner part the tables were on old treadle sewing machine frames. We were expected and the waiter pointed to our reserved table in the otherwise deserted restaurant.  The peka was brought out on an oval steel dish on which it had been cooked and consisted on slices of pork (belly we think) and segments of potato all heavily salted and swimming with oil and a mixed salad, also salted.  The flavour was rich, the pork was tender, but the 1kg of meat overwhelmed us and we took half of it away with us.  When we got back to the apartment we googled peka and found that it is normally cooked in a wood fired oven under a heavy lid covered with embers.  The meat can be anything (including octopus) and is sometimes mixed and the vegetables can include tomatoes, eggplant, and anything else you can roast.

After a digestive rest and another swim and laze in the sun, we headed into the old town of Zadar and wandered around to the "Salute to the Sun" and the "Sea Organ".  We were too early for the Salute which is a large circular area made up of solar powered lights that pulse in time with the sea organ during the hours of darkness and is particularly recommended at sunset.  We weren't up to going in again so we missed that spectacle, but we did enjoy the sea organ which is a series of steps that capture the wave energy and play mournful notes and harmonies depending on the wave action.  It is in no way melodic, but it has a fascination of randomness and continuity.

The surprise for us in the old town were the remains of the roman forum, which apparently was the largest on the eastern side of the Adriatic and was initiated by Emperor Augustus.  As the town was badly damaged during WWII the centre is a surprisingly modern shopping area with wide store fronts and modern marble paving.