Visit of Nin and Zadar from the port of Zadar

We start our tour in the town of Nin. Located about 18 km from Zadar, it was the first cultural, political and religious center of the Croatians; it has a great archaeological value as well as a great beauty due in part to the fact that it houses numerous jewels of Roman times and numerous Venetian vestiges that are preserved in part of its walls and gates.

The city of Nin was founded by the Ilyrian Liburnians in the 9th century BC and is also known as Aenona. In the Middle Ages Nin was the political-religious center of Croatia and where the Croatian state was born. The ancient city is situated in a shallow lagoon, on a small islet connected to the mainland by two bridges. We will visit the famous salt pans of Nin, Salt Pans. They cover an area of 55 hectares in the Nin lagoon and their history dates back to the time of the Roman Empire.

From there we will drive to Zadar. The old town of Zadar, like many other Croatian cities, juts out into the Adriatic Sea forming a small peninsula, and it is here that most of its tourist attractions are concentrated. The different layers of the city walls, its Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque monuments, bear witness to the city's past. The isthmus on which old Zadar sits still preserves its ancient thick walls, flanked by impressive gates, such as the harbor gate and the mainland gate, the latter dating back to the 16th century. Inside grew a Roman city and still preserves the ruins of its old Roman forum, which we will visit next to the pre-Romanesque church of San Donato (IX century), which is undoubtedly the symbol of the city. However, the city also stands out for having the most beautiful Romanesque churches in Croatia. We will go to the Cathedral of St. Anastasia, of marked Italian taste, built on the ruins of an earlier basilica.

From there to Zara Gate, like any walled city, Zadar retains some of the entrances to the ancient city, and one of these accesses is the beautiful Zara Gate, built during the occupation of the Venetians, also called Terrafema Gate.

The Town Square or Town Hall Square, a lively place to have a drink and rest. Here you can find the Town Hall, the Tourist Office and the Church of San Lorenzo. The Five Wells Square, the most characteristic of this square are the 5 wells that we see aligned, which were built to take advantage of the water and store it in the subway cisterns when the Ottoman Empire destroyed its aqueduct. Also in this lively square we also find the few remaining vestiges of medieval times, such as the Captain's Tower.

To complete our experience in Zadar, we will visit the famous sea organ. The work of Croatian architect Nikola Basic, it is an artistically stepped promenade, made with blocks of white stone from the Croatian island of Brac. Its subway mechanism contains 35 pipes and the air, pressed by the sea water that enters through the side of the stairs, produces chords that flood the public promenade through vertical holes. This promenade is adjacent to the old medieval core of the city and from it you get a beautiful perspective of the island of Ugljan. Of course you can not miss in our visit the Sun Salutation Square, one of the most photographed places in Zadar. Very close to the marine organ on the Riviera Promenade, it is a spectacular circle of 22 meters in diameter composed of about 300 photoelectric cells that capture sunlight from the ground to turn sunsets into a light show.

From there we headed to the port to finish our visit of this wonderful city, ending the excursion.

SUPPLEMENTS

PACKAGE TICKETS TO PAY WITH THE RESERVATION
€ 8.00 per passenger (approx. 9.50USD) (includes admission to the Salinas + St. Donat + St. Anastazija)

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