Monday, October 22
After a day off for good behavior we went back to the Museum of Ancient Glass. Before buying tickets we confirmed that they were having a glass blowing demonstration that day. The clerk told us that the demonstration had just started up on the second floor. We paid our 30 KN / $5.00 per person and headed upstairs.
“Mark” was in a large studio behind a plate glass window about halfway through making a vase. He connected a stub to the bottom, heated the piece in an oven and turned a flange on the top. Then he heated some more glass and twirled it around the neck of the vase making a lovely decorative addition. We watched as he made another vase from scratch. This one had a colored base. We spoke with him afterwards and he told us that all of the pieces he made were for sale in the museum’s gift shop after they “slept” in a cooling oven for 18 hours. He said that one out of ten pieces will break during the cooling process.
When the demonstration was done we went to see the exhibits on the second floor. Most of the pieces on display had been imported into Zadar from all over the Roman Empire. There were a large number of utilitarian pieces used for keeping perfumes and medicines as well as general household items like glasses and bowls. We also saw several collections of jewelry made from glass beads and paste bracelets.
(First Century Roman Glass)
On the first floor the displays chronicled the history of glass making. According to one display glass was invented accidentally when some sailors cooked a meal using soda to support their cookware. When the soda became hot it fused with the sand on the beach and formed the first man-made glass.
There was an interesting display showing decorative techniques throughout the years. Murano, Italy is one of the few places that still produces decorative glass the way it was done in Medieval times.
The first floor also had a temporary exhibition on lighthouses. None of the information was in English so it was hard to make out exactly what it was all about but there was a nice display of lights and glass reflector mechanisms from old lighthouses.
The museum was fairly small and the exhibits were not all that compelling. By far the most interesting portion was the glassblowing demonstration. The museum was also supposed to have a bead making demonstration later in the day but we decided not to hang around until the person showed up. In summary, it’s hard to recommend this museum unless, of course, this is a subject that is really close to your heart.
Afterwards we walked back to the sea organ and watched the boats frolicking in the water. This has been one of our favorite things to do since we landed in Zadar. We watched and listened for over an hour before searching for a place to have lunch. After checking a few menus we decided to try Papica Burger House. They had a burger with ajvar, kajmak cheese, relish and onions. It sounded too good to resist – so we didn’t. It turned out to be a great choice. We also shared an ordered of fries. They were just ok.
(Burger with Ajvar and Kajmak)
After lunch we tried to go to the Museum of Religious Art but they were closed between 1:00 pm and 5:00 pm so we decided to come back the next day.
Distance walked: 6.2 miles
Tuesday, October 23
This was our last full day in Zadar and the only thing left on our list of things to do was the Religious Art Museum. We arrived just after they opened at 10:00 am to make sure that we had enough time to see everything before it closed at 1:00 pm. We had low expectations and expected to be out in about 30 minutes.
The museum is housed in a Benedictine Convent and is run by the nuns who live there. The entrance fee was 25 KN / $4.00 per person. Cash only.
The museum starts on the first floor (second floor for you Americans – we’ll stop saying that when it stops amusing us). The museum covered the entire floor and was filled with painted icons, reliquaries containing relics from many well known saints, golden chalices and wooden processional crosses covered in precious metals and stones. The items were primarily from the 1200-1500s. It was an impressive collection.
(Restored Paintings of Saints)
The next higher floor contained more of the same plus several collections of carved wooden religious statues taken from area churches that no longer exist.
The final displays were on the ground floor. One room was dedicated to printed materials in the Glagolitic script, a written language developed in the 9th century that preceded the Cyrillic Alphabet. At one time this monastery was the only church in Zadar allowed to conduct services in Glagolitic and Latin.
There was also an exhibit demonstrating how some of the pieces in the museum had been restored. There was a great deal of information but unfortunately none of it was in English. Lastly we entered a small, ancient chapel that had undoubtedly been part of the original convent. The chapel had no decorations to speak of but displayed some intricate carvings that used to be on the walls. It is likely that the chapel suffered significant damage in the War of Independence in the 1990s.
The museum had a large, high quality and diverse collection of objects in very good condition. Our entire visit took a little over an hour and we enjoyed it very much.
We decided to kill some time before seeking a place for lunch by having coffee at one of the many seaside cafes. They were serving Franck brand coffee which is one of the better brands we’ve had in Croatia. While at the cafe we discussed our plans for the coming weeks. Our plan had been to go from Montenegro to Greece sometime near the beginning of December. It turns out that getting from Montenegro (or even Southern Croatia) to Greece was going to be a challenge. No direct flights were available and the flights we could find were terribly expensive and a trip by bus would take over 24 hours. Our best and cheapest option turned out to be a flight from Podgorica, Montenegro to Athens, Greece with a stop in Berlin, Germany. Since we’ve never been to Berlin we decided to take the opportunity to visit it. We’ll be staying there for two weeks.
For lunch we tried one of the best reviewed pizza places in town. It’s called Crazy Pizza. Each slice (they call them ‘cuts’) was 14 KN / $2.20 and it was the equivalent of two normal slices – or a quarter of the pie. We had slices with pepperoni and arugula. It was some of the best pizza we’ve had in a while.
Distance walked: 4.3 miles
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