Opatija to Pula Croatia

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Yesterday we walked across the street from our hotel and got two beach chairs and an umbrella and laid by the sea. Jon went swimming. We had lunch at the little grill near our beach chairs. Jon ordered a hamburger that was definitely not your traditional American burger. There was some red pepper puree’ sauce, maybe a little vinegar and who knows what else on a huge half loaf of French bread with some beef inside. The bread in Croatia is really soft and so good. We got some gelato and headed back to our hotel for the internet connection and pivo (beer). We had a lovely dinner and spent our last night in Opatija. I hope that we will return for a visit again.
The next morning we drove the beautiful Croatian coast in our little Fiat Punto headed toward Pula, Croatia and then finally planning on staying the night in Trieste, Italy. The highway was along the coast and we stopped at an overlook to see the beautiful view. Once we got near Pula there was lots of traffic and we finally just decided to park the car and walk. The Roman ruins in Pula are some of the best preserved and there are many tourists that head to Pula to see the Amphitheater. This is one of 6 Roman amphitheaters still in existence. We got the informational headset and walked around the amphitheater and listened to all of the history. The Amphitheater is well preserved and unlike the Coliseum in Rome we were able to walk underneath the amphitheater and see all that was underneath as well. They still have concerts and performances in the Amphitheater. We walked to the Temple of Augustus Caesar. This temple has huge columns and had some beautiful old stone sculptures inside. We walked around and saw some large arches had some lunch and headed toward Trieste. We drove north past grape vines and over a large bridge and got to Slovenia. At the customs stop they stamped our passports and the Slovenian passport agent said “Hmm American People.” I will always remember this check point because it was the 4th of July and the guy told us that we were “American People”. Jon and I got a good laugh out of it. We drove through Slovenia, a country that we don’t know anything about. And unfortunately still don’t. Then we made it to Italy. The weather in Slovenia and Trieste was really windy and rainy.

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