Zadar’s Sea Organ is a unique and inspired installation. The swell of the sea pushes air through organ pipes built under the broad stone steps of the waterfront promenade. You can’t see the Sea Organ; you can only hear it. The sound is projected out the fluted risers of the steps, so the best way to enjoy the music is to lounge on the steps and watch the boats drift on the sea, especially as the sun goes down. The intensity and timbre of the notes surge with the waves, so a passing ferry sends a new song into the organ. It is peaceful, enjoyable and utterly brilliant, and the only one of its kind in the world. The designer deserves a special mention: local architect Nikola Brašić. It warrants stopping in Zadar just to see it
I’ve attached a 30-second recording of it here.
Showing posts with label Zadar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zadar. Show all posts
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Croatia
The mood of the Dalmatian coast makes me think of it as an enormous Manly (a beach suburb of Sydney). Zadar has a calm, chilled vibe, quiet except that there is plenty of life. I always base myself in the old, historic centre of each place that I visit, but there are very few hotels in Zadar’s old town. My hotel was a half hour walk away. Most tourists here stay 3km away in the newer part of the city where there is plenty of accommodation. High season in Croatia is July and August, the northern summer, but October seems pretty low-key.
Zadar is a very youthful place; there is an abundance of people under 25. If this is representative of the Croation population, reflecting on the possible reason is disconcerting: the “ethnic cleansing” of the Homeland War, as the Croats call it, took place when they were all children. But there is a distinct feeling that that is history now, and the place feels ready to surge into the future with the youth at its helm.
The harbour is busy with ferries en route up and down the coast, and the marinas are filled with fishing trawlers, sailboats, and runabouts. The place is very genuine. Few of the yachts are as ostentatious as the showboats in Sydney’s Darling Harbour. I strolled along the peaceful waterfront at night back to my hotel, and quietly envied two skippers on cabin cruisers moored alongside each other, chatting over the gunwales and looking out to the moonlit Adriatic.
Zadar is a very youthful place; there is an abundance of people under 25. If this is representative of the Croation population, reflecting on the possible reason is disconcerting: the “ethnic cleansing” of the Homeland War, as the Croats call it, took place when they were all children. But there is a distinct feeling that that is history now, and the place feels ready to surge into the future with the youth at its helm.
The harbour is busy with ferries en route up and down the coast, and the marinas are filled with fishing trawlers, sailboats, and runabouts. The place is very genuine. Few of the yachts are as ostentatious as the showboats in Sydney’s Darling Harbour. I strolled along the peaceful waterfront at night back to my hotel, and quietly envied two skippers on cabin cruisers moored alongside each other, chatting over the gunwales and looking out to the moonlit Adriatic.
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