I gets down with the Croatian persuasion

Concluding our triumphant worldwide tour of Croatia were stops in Trogir (Town Motto: “Trogir? I barely even know her!”) and Zadar (Town Motto: “No relation to Zabar’s, so don’t ask about our bagels”). Trogir was nice enough, though smaller and somewhat less interesting than Dubrovnik. We were able to take in most of the town in a couple hours of wandering, but the town is very nice to look at nonetheless. Plus, it was confirmation that Croatia has a big-time ice cream culture. Seriously, there are ice cream stands everywhere, and a lot of seating areas that you would think are attached to bars and restaurants are in fact attached to ice cream parlors. Which makes sense when you take into account the fact that Croatia is pretty freaking hot, particularly in August.

Ice cream? Holla!

At any rate, Trogir was more of a rest stop, really. Having explored the town, I was content to lounge by the ship’s pool listening to Tuff Crew and The Meters while staffers fell over themselves to be the ones to bring me another iced tea. (Seriously, while I appreciate attentive service, it can get cartoonish at times. But I guess that’s what happens when your job is to cater to rich, powerful people who have become quite accustomed to having their asses kissed 24-7.)

After a few days in Trogir, it was on to Zadar, which is probably my favorite of the three Croatian towns we visited. For starters, this was the first time we actually docked at a pier instead of dropping anchor in the harbor and using a tender to get to and from shore. Here’s what it looked like as we pulled in:

Hello, Cleveland! Uh, I mean, hello, Zadar!

See that blue circle? That is called the Monument to the Sun. During the daytime, it looks like a semi-interesting blue circle. But after dark, you see that it’s actually full of LED lights that do all sorts of nifty patterns:

This light show totally syncs up with Dark Side of the Moon

If you were to, say, fire up a gigantic hash spliff or drop a couple tabs of acid (Kids: Don’t do drugs), you’d be in for one hell of a show. Also, the pier has something called the Sea Organ, which is a series of organ pipes that produce sound via the waves forcing air through them. It’s pretty cool—the rhythm and intensity of the ocean is constantly creating music, which was often eerily beautiful and ranged from music from The Legend of Zelda to the “Glaciers of Ice” beat minus the drums. Definitely some cool stuff. As you walk along the waterfront, you get a great view of the Adriatic, plus some artwork to ponder:

Do sculptures dream of bronze sheep?

Eventually, the waterfront loops around inland, leading you to some very pleasant little coves and such:

There’s a nice town center as well, plus a really lovely little park that I would definitely spend a lot of time in if I lived here:

Zadar was the biggest of the Croatian towns we visited, though I wouldn’t go so far as to call it “big.” It’s supposedly a big college town, and this being the summertime and all, there weren’t many students. I thought a college town might mean record stores, but I was once again stymied. I did, however, catch some fantastic graffiti:

As a last hurrah, we traveled about an hour inland to an amazing National Park that featured water so pristine it’s the dictionary definition of “mirror-reflection water” (boating, swimming, fishing, and such are strictly verboten here, save for the Park Service’s biodiesel-powered boats), a man-made island in the middle of the lake housing a centuries-old church and monastery, some scenic waterfalls, and generally idyllic views. A great way to end a stay in a beautiful country.

So, with our now-customary dominoes-and-top-shelf-booze on the balcony, we set sail for the final port of my European adventure: Venice. That update will come eventually. Until then, here are some more Croatia pics.