We had originally planned to be in Croatia a lot earlier in our trip, but were happy to push the dates back to welcome our good friends paying us a visit. We made our way from the Plitvice Lakes back down to Zadar where we were happy to be back on the water. Zadar was/is a picture perfect little town along the coast that is much less crowded during the winter (like most places in Croatia). While it would have been fun to jump in the ocean, not having crowds is very advantageous. What we enjoyed about Zadar most was that the town still felt alive with all of the locals, whereas Split was fairly empty and Dubrovnik was absolutely deserted when night rolled around.
When we arrived they were in the process of setting up the Christmas market. We had seen a holiday market in Prague but this was our first winter market and Zadar was a perfect place to be introduced. On the first day it was packed with people from when we arrived at noon until 2:00-3:00 PM, and then everyone cleared out. We assumed that meant it was closed so the first night we just decided to stay home. On day 2, the same thing happened but that night we needed food so made our way to the center of the town. To our surprise the winter market was PACKED at about 6:00 PM on a Sunday. We made the assumption that the people just need a little Spanish-like siesta to recharge their batteries.
Other than enjoying the holiday market we mainly just enjoyed walking and reading along the coast for a couple of days. It was a beautiful town with beautiful views of the water. Some of the sights included an organ that is powered by the sea, Church of St. Donatus, and then eating WAY too much chicken, cheese, mexican chicken, and beef burek.
Obviously, a lot of these coastal towns are more lively during the summer months. When to visit, depends on your own personal tastes and preferences. We are traveling for a year so we can’t obviously be everywhere in the summer so it’s not a big deal to us. Visiting in off season allows us to see these wonderful places at a discounted price, but if you’re expecting a wild ocean party town at during the winter, think again.