Rovinj

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Tuesday October 9th
We had an easy morning, leaving our apartment at about 9.30 and walked into the bus station at Opatija. We arrived well before the bus so sat on the pavement outside the local casino with a coffee enjoying the passing sights. The bus arrived and we were off to Rovinj! It was very enjoyable travelling down the coast and we passed through many charming fishing villages. There was hardly anyone on the bus and most people got off at the inland town of Barban, where we saw a lot of dilapidated high rise apartments but we cold see no reason why this place seemed to have such a large population as there was seemingly no industry.

In Pula the bus stopped for a few minutes so we took the opportunity to stretch our legs as did the other passenger, Jeff, with whom we started to talk. It turned out it he was also an Australian, from NSW. Once we arrived in Rovinj we decided we might have better negotiating power with 3 rather than 2 so off we went. Strangely we didn't see any sobe, zimmer,room signs like we had in the other Croatian cities so Judy ended up asking a girl at a market stall and she had a friend....

We arrived at the apartment to find a modern 2 bedder. After some negotiation we settled on a price, left our bags and set off to explore Rovinj. The old town of Rovinj originated in the 3rd century and is situated on the top of a steep hill that used to be an island but in the 18th century the connecting shore was filled in making it a peninsula. The whole of this peninsula is dominated by the 13th century church of St Euphemia. The bell tower is 60 metres tall and is the tallest in Istria. It was built in 1654 copying St Mark's in Venice. On the top of the bell tower is the bronze statue of St Euphemia which moves with the wind. This town, under Venetian rule, became the main maritime and fishing centre in Istria in the 17th century. Rovinj is a charming town with narrow cobbled streets and Judy enjoyed exploring the little art and jewellery shops hidden behind the thick stone walls.

After a visit to the supermarket of Kosum we had the extra to turn what we already had into pasta marinara to be enjoyed with a couple of bottles of red.

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Photos

Arch of the Sergians
The entry to the old city was built in 30 BC

Comments

[Paul Reid]

The adventure continues...
That picture of the homes on the edge in Rovinj is a cracker. Such history there. Have fun :-)