Zadar

Zadar is a city on a narrow peninsula in the northern Dalmatia, settled for some three thousand years and layered with the remains of each of them. Its old town is a compact grid of Roman ruins, Romanesque churches, Venetian land gates and baroque palaces, all within a short walk, and the city has the busy, lived-in feel of a place that is more than a museum.

The Roman forum, one of the largest on the eastern Adriatic, sits in the open in the middle of town, and beside it stands the church of St Donatus, a 9th-century round church that is the symbol of the city. Zadar’s two modern sights, the Sea Organ and the Greeting to the Sun, run along the waterfront promenade, and they are the reason many visitors come.

Zadar is both a historic city and a working one, with a university and a ferry port to the islands. It is less crowded than Dubrovnik or Split, and it makes a strong base for trips to Pag, Dugi Otok and the Kornati.

For photographers, the sunset over the Sea Organ, with the silhouettes of the islands and the sound of the organ, is the classic Zadar image. Walk the peninsula at dusk, when the Roman stones and the modern light installations read best.

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