Our last Friday in Rovinj, Croatia

We extended our stay here by 6 extra days because it is so beautiful.
The town is approximately a 25-minute walk from our camp or a 10-minute ride on this train vehicle with two-car passenger seating areas. Or if you miss this transport you can take a cab for 10 €.

The old town of Rovinj is filled with cobblestone streets worn down by time. No cars are allowed in the old town streets after dark.

There are shops, art galleries, restaurants, and many gelato stores as eating gelato on a hot summer day is a must. All streets seem to end up on the harbor, so there are afternoon breezes that are welcomed as the weather has been in the mid-80s to mid-90s.

The old city used to be on a separate island close to the coast. It became connected to the mainland in 1763 by filling in the channel.
For 500 years, the Istrian península was governed by Venezia, which accounts for the strong Italian influence. Most signs in this península are mandated to be written in Croat and Italian.

The Italian influence is felt all around from the warm colors of the buildings to the flavor of the food.
We enjoy our almost daily ramblings around the city. We try to only walk in the shady streets, looking for a spot for the afternoon coffee. This led us to discover many obscure corners of the city that are uncrowded.

We have eaten lunch or dinner at many local restaurants, but we prepare breakfast in the campervan, fresh coffee, and a sandwich or berries and yogurt.

Today, on our last day in Rovinj, we will once again go to the beach and rent two lounge chairs with pillows and a large umbrella.  We will swim in the Adriatic today as tomorrow we depart for a bit of inland camping at Krka National Forest.

From our base in Rovinj, we took the public bus to Pula. It was a 45-minute drive on back roads. This is the town that is famous for its arena or coliseum. Here, we found a somewhat preserved and mostly intact stone arena in the old city closest to the harbor. The crowds that were in Rome are thankfully not here.

Once inside, there was a stage permanently set up as there are now mock gladiator shows, and the arena is used for live concerts and operas. We will miss a performance by Andre Bocelli at the end of August, and the opera Aida was staged in early August.
While it was a hot day,  we walked the small arena looking at the ancient stones with a small crowd of foreigners.

Under the arena, they created a museum of all the items that had been unearthed nearby, many different amphoras that were used for storing olive oil, wines, or fish sauce.
Was cool here, so we lingered a bit longer here.
When they finished there, we walked further into the old city as there were a couple of older sites we wanted to visit.

Walking in the hot sun is difficult, and I was getting g hungry. We mistakenly stopped at the first restaurant. While I was hungry, we decided to order.  A hamburger of meat and veal with French fries and a salad. What arrived was a Greek salad with an abundance of cucumbers, and a few tomatoes enhanced with a couple of pieces of feta and olives intermixed. The meat was passable, and the salad needed a lot of oil. We asked for iced tea! Not available, we asked for lemonade.  We indeed got this in two huge pitcher glasses with straws.
We ate somewhat filled and asked for the check and said we would pay by visa. Many places in Croatia don’t accept cards, only cash. No problem. The waitress brought the check. OMG the burger was 18€ with French fries.  The salad was 14€, but here’s the surprise the lemonades were 7€ each, and we had to pay 4€ for the ketchup.

We paid almost that much for a fantastic flavorful lunch the day before in Rovinj. So I called this place a tourist trap and wrote that in a review.

After paying the bill, we walked further into the old town and found many other restaurants whose menus looked way more interesting and might have been better quality food too.The joys of finding a restaurant when hungry were disappointing, and not reading the reviews compounded the mistake, too.

But as we continue to walk around this old city, we compare Pula to Rovinj.
The Pula Old Quarter is much smaller and not as picturesque as Rovinj.

As the time is getting late and we want to return, we walk towards the bus and my stomach decides it’s not happy.

But no restaurant or bar nearby, luckily I see a run-down bar in the distance. We walk quickly there. The woman at the door says you must spend money to use the bathroom. I said, “Yes, I would.”
Wow… of course, it was probably the dirtiest bathroom in the city. But thank God there was toilet paper as the tourist trap restaurant wreaked its revenge. But after many minutes, I felt relief.  And oh, so happy to have a toilet and the toilet paper.
Instead of eating or drinking there, I just gave her 2 €.

Another day, we arranged a private tour guide with a car to Montevon y Grisyeda, two hilltop towns considered to be the gems of Istria.
Motovun is the heart of the truffle country. Our guide’s name was Vladana she grew up in the area but left for many years to live in other countries in Europe. She speaks Spanish, Italian, German, Croat, and English. She is happy to speak to us in Spanish as she doesn’t get to practice much.

It’s a small winding road we use after traveling the autobahn. About 50 minutes north of Rovinj, we approached the town that was abandoned after WWII and remained so until the 1960s. Today’s appearance of Groznjan is due to the artist and sculptor Aleksandar Rukavina, who, together with other artists, worked to ensure the preservation and restoration of the buildings.

Now, the town is inhabited by 165 residents who are predominantly artists as there are 20 art galleries and numerous restaurants too.

As we walked through the streets of this very picturesque town, it was delightful not only for the eyes, but we were delighted to be listening to music students practice either the piano or the violin. There is also a music camp here. Was a wonderful experience, and we had one of the best views of the surrounding area at the cafe with our coffee.

Next, we visited Motovun, another hilltop old town where we were lucky enough to get a ride to the top with the local hotel owner. Only local cars have the means to drive to the top, leaving many visitors to hike up the hilly cobblestone streets.

Once there, another magnificent vista awaits you, but this town is different as it has a very well-preserved wall that must be visited.

After all this viewing, we had lunch in a famous restaurant that is known for its pasta with truffles.
The food was a tasty experience along with a glass of local chilled white wine.

Ahh, Istrian península! I think this is my favorite area of Croatia.

We ended up staying in Rovinj for 11 days and are so glad we did.

In all the time of traveling in the campervan, life was very simple. Put on a bathing suit, have breakfast, wash up. Go to the Adriatic for a float in the afternoon.
Rinse repeat for 26 days.Refreshed.Relaxed.

We leave for Krakow Poland on Saturday. There, we will meet the local tangeros and dance at two tango festivals.

It will be wonderful to be back in a city, sleep in a normal bed, walk into the bathroom and use a normal toilet, go into the kitchen, and make coffee on a regular cooktop.

We are so grateful for the way we got to experience Croatia.

Now back to traveling and dancing tango.

Abrazo