Preko and Back Again

Diving back into the vaults for this one, the second weekend in Zadar Amber and I took our first trip out of Zadar, deciding to take a ferry to the town of Preko on the island across the water from Zadar. In typical action movie style, Amber and I rushed to buy our tickets and got on the boat literally 20 seconds before it set out. This was my first boat ride of the trip, so it was really cool to see all of the moored boats and coastal harbors that is common in Zadar. 

This was also my first opportunity to see Zadar from the outside. Shown to the right is the popular Sea Organs with Stari Grad in the background. It really is a gorgeous city. But the ferry ride in its entirety only took about 15 minutes, so before we knew it, we were in a new coastal town.

We didn't have anything extraordinary planned for the trip to Preko, but we didn't really need to. Dalmatian towns are generally just beautiful, and our day trip just consisted of walking around this town, trying to get a more sincere and less touristic perspective of the Dalmatian coast. We did see a run down building or two once we stepped away from the shore, probably remnants of past wars, but the entire architectural culture is so attractive nonetheless. And that view of the country is just so much more real to me.

 We saw a high school, gardens, a gorgeous church with a really well maintained cemetery, and just really pretty scenery in general. Even though this historic front is probably greatly maintained through the tourist industry, it's cool to take a step outside of tourist hot spots and see that people live among these historic churches and at the same time go to a modern school building. Also, as you can see by the last picture, we also came across a snake or two, as even the Garden of Eden had snakes.

  

Walking around worked up quite an appetite, so we walked back towards the beach and found a nice restaurant to enjoy what at the time was my best meal yet. I started off with a fish soup appetizer, very simple but still quite good and had a turkey and shrimp gnocchi for the entree. Despite the seemingly strange combination, the sauce was fantastic. So much so that it is probably still tied for my favorite meal here.

Then afterwards we just wasted away the rest of the afternoon chilling at the beach and generally relaxing it up. I also got what at the time were the first pictures of myself in the country. Had to get some for my adoring fans eventually (Mom really wanted some).

 But yeah, that was basically how that trip went. It was the exact opposite of stressful, just walking around the town and soaking in the sights. A good first day trip for Amber and I to take. Below I have some of the miscellaneous photos that I got while we were walking up on the hill behind the town, giving us some great elevated shots of the town and the sea. Overall a great trip to take with great food to eat.