“Zadar has the most beautiful sunset in the world, more beautiful than the one in Key West in Florida, applauded at every evening.”
Alfred Hitchock

Hitchcock’s appreciation of the Adriatic eventide came when he was staying at Hotel Zagreb, which is the last building in the photo below; the two closer buildings are part of the University of Zadar. The Sea Organ, or Morske orgulje, is our favourite place to watch the sun set and to hear the sounds of the sea transposed through a unique piece of public sound art.

Zadar is the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in Croatia, having been founded under the Liburnians in the ninth century BCE, but with evidence of human habitation extending much further back. Located on the Adriatic Sea, it has been variously Roman, Byzantine, Carolingian, Venetian, Habsburg, Napoleonic, and Austro-Hungarian, leading to a rich and diverse history.

The University of Zadar was re-established in 2002 but traces its lineage to a Dominican foundation of 1396.