Zadar Fortifications

The peninsula is a fortress as much as a town. Venice rebuilt the land defences in the sixteenth century to hold off the Ottomans, and the circuit that survives was inscribed by UNESCO in 2017 with the other Venetian works of defence around the Adriatic. The Land Gate of 1543, a triumphal arch by the architect Michele Sanmicheli carrying the lion of St Mark, is still the main way in from the mainland and still takes the daily foot traffic.

Behind it the bastion carries a public park on its top and the Five Wells Square at its foot, with the Captain's Tower, the last tower of the older circuit standing to its full height, restored as an exhibition space. The walls face Fosa, the small harbour outside the gate where the boats moor. None of it is ticketed; the whole circuit is a walk.