Zingy Zadar

We made our way up the coast, stopping at small coves as always. We really liked Zaklopica, a small bay whose only business is a family owned restaurant at the head of the bay. They have laid some buoys for about 5 boats to tie up to as lures to eat at their restaurant. The family lives on the mainland, but during the summer, they all hang out at their summer restaurant. It is all quite quaint and looks like a delightful way for a family to spend its summers. A couple of days later, we enter the old harbor of Zadar. It is right next to the walled city that has been there for hundreds of years. The old city of Zadar is, in reality. a mix of old and new probably as a result of bombings and wars. We stumbled across a very interesting exhibit that was on the second floor of an old church. The claim was made that the Romans actually had the beginning of what is our modern cinema in the first century. Evidently an archeologist came upon a brass casting that was pie shaped at a flea market. The vendor told him he picked it up at a nearby seaside. So the archeologist bought the piece along with directions on how to get to the beach. After a few days rummaging around in the sand, he came across an exact copy of the piece. The two pieces fit together exactly like they were part of something bigger. He also discovered some glass slides with slightly different pictures on them. They looked like animation slides. After duplicating the found metal pieces enough to complete the circle, he ended up recreating something similar to a zototrope machine, the precursor to our modern cinema that was invented around 1830. It is all quite amazing and if true, certainly gives completely new insight to what we know about Roman technology. If you want to read more about this whole discovery, here is a webpage link.www.ancient-cinema.org.