Zadar, Croatia

The wind had been steadily increasing overnight, so by the time we arrived at Zarda in Croatia, the wind was incredible. There was a very long walk to the port terminal buildings along the pier and as soon as I got out of the shelter of the ship I was nearly blown over. Fortunately, because I had my stick, I was allowed to set off for the coaches ahead of the main party which gave me enough time to battle the wind.

Our excursion set off for Vransco Lake, the biggest in Croatia at some 12 square miles in area. I was looking forward to this excursion as it was claimed that 256 bird species had been recorded here with 102 of them nesting in the area. Unfortunately when we got there the hurricane winds had not abated and there was no chance that we would see any birds at all. That turned out to be the case and after a very short walk along some of the boardwalks we gave up and returned to the coach. My pictures probably don't convey the impact of the wind blowing the lake margins and the churning of the water that deterred the birds.

The next stop was a hilltop called Kamenjak that was supposed to provide excellent views for miles around and in particular the many islands offshore in this part of Croatia. The weather was giving us not only high winds but poor visibility from the hilltop and we couldn't very far. We did see a chapel on the hilltop that had been built as recently as 1995 after bones had been found that were believed to be from people killed by the communists in Yugoslavia during the Second World War. There is a procession to this Chapel once a year by the local people at Easter time.

Finally, before returning to the ship we stopped at a luxury hotel for coffee and a portion of Baklava which is a very sweet Turkish dessert. The hotel was a restoration of an original medieval building built by the Turks.

Not related to today's visit but to celebrate Easter the restaurants had produced a display outside their entrances and we all got an Easter Bunny-shaped box of sweets left on the bed.

On this cruise, the captain presented me with a Saga Sapphire member pin now I have sailed for over 500 nights aboard the Saga ships. I will also get a cut glass vase delivered to my home and I have asked for it to be engraved with Tony and Penny.