Monument to the Sun

Aimless wandering can be nice, but I’m trying to cut back.

I’ve fallen in love with too many places and the problem is wherever I am, there is somewhere else that I’m not. I could see myself settling in a number of different places around the world, but it’s not really settling if I’m moving around between them. So how about if it’s just two?

I would probably be fine with wandering if I were alone, though NG seems to like traveling anywhere as long as there is ice cream and a decent wifi connection. But considering her future, having a base in Europe seems like a good option. Part of the plan for this Europe trip is to wander with a purpose: to find a possible long term location.

There are two major problems with Europe though. First, unlike Southeast Asia, it gets cold in winter. Second, the summer season becomes unbearably crowded with annoying tourists, especially in the Mediterranean region where the beaches get overtaken with sunbeds and beach umbrellas. The best time of year here is the in-between, when the tourists are gone, but the seas are still warm.

We arrived in Croatia during the last week of summer holidays and masses of tourists clogged the narrow alleyways of the old town. Cruise ships towered over the port like a visiting alien spacecrafts with tourists descending the gang planks eager to populate the already crowded walkways and cafes.

The old town would have been a ghost town during the pandemic. I prefer that to the bustle of tourism. Nostalgia for covid times? Maybe.

Every third person wandering the old town is a beer-bellied middle-aged or older man holding an ice cream cone. Others stroll slowly, completely blocking the walkway. There is always a woman taking pictures of everything with her phone who scowls at everyone that gets in her shot.

Suddenly, on the next block, everyone is speaking German. They arrive in buses and for a few minutes, drowned in German conversations, it feels as if we’re in an old German town. But then we’re at the port again where American cruise ship passengers are filing into town for their 4-hour stay. In passing I hear one ask the guide in a Texas accent, “so did the Germans invade Croatia during the war?” The guide gave a very long “uhhhhhh,” that lasted until I was out of range. Wrong question.

Zadar is a pleasant town though, one said to have the best sunset in the world. We watched it, along with every other tourist in town, from the Monument to the Sun, a collection of solar panels embedded into the walkway that light up once it gets dark. Here one can listen to the sea organ, a set of tubes under the walkway that make music from the waves, while watching the sunset light up the sky before the sun monument begins its colorful light show.

Split, our next stop, is an attractive city on the Adriatic coast decorated by its millenia of history, from Roman palaces to Venetian buildings and medieval Catholic churches. It’s a city that seems to have everything: beaches, hiking trails, cafes, restaurants. And it’s a transport hub.

We only stayed long enough to explore a bit and enjoy some nice food. I wonder, though, if we had arrived in the off season if it would be another city that I would have to add to my list of favorite places. The tourist crowds left me feeling rushed to move on though, so we took a ferry onwards looking for a place where we could escape from the crowds but still enjoy the last months of summer sun.