Choosing a city to visit on the Adriatic Coast is like selecting from a fool-proof list. Pick Dubrovnik if you want Venetian splendor and great seafood. Choose Hvar if you want partying and the scent of lavender. This time, I decided on Zadar simply because it was close to Zagreb and I figured it would be hard to go wrong. After a long weekend of salty seas, many new freckles and full glasses of red wine, I wasn’t disappointed.

My friend Liz was visiting me in Zagreb, and to escape the heat wave that has been washing over South Eastern Europe this summer we decided to hit the coast. The bus ride was three and a half hours and we arrived there around sundown. The walled old city was already full of people wearing flowy linen clothing, strolling along maze-like avenues and lounging in the open air cafes. We walked into the tourist office (where we would return for help many times) and within minutes they had found us a private room to stay in at a price well below half of what hotels were charging online.

Zadar itself doesn’t have many pleasant beaches to sit on, but rather a long promenade that drops straight into the water. It was the best spot to be at sunset because of the unfettered view of the horizon and the famous musical Sea Organ. Built in 2005 by architect Nikola Ba”iç, the organ uses the push of the waves and blow of the wind to make soft sounds via tubes and cavities. Sitting on the marble steps that cascade into the water, we watched the sunset and listened to the gentle harmonies played by the lapping sea.

To find swimming beaches, we took a quick ferry out to an island just off the coast. We had to walk about ten minutes from the homely port where the boat dropped us off, but were rewarded when we found an even smaller island with broad flat rocks, fragrant pines and an abandoned monastery. A grandfatherly man was waiting with a row boat to take us over, after he amusedly watched our failed attempts to wade over. We stayed all day in the sun and the water, and simply gave him a friendly wave when we were ready to be picked up again.
Back in Zagreb, the city continues to feel emptier and emptier. My Croatian friends remind me that everyone is going to the coast. Who can blame them?