Days 19 and 20

Italy and Croatia 2011

Days 19 and 20

Day 19 Today we left Bologna on a train to Venice so that we could take a bus to Rovinj, Croatia. We were there a year ago and really liked it. We were planning to take a four-hour fast boat ride from Venice to get here, but we found out long after we made our reservations that the boat doesn’t run on Sunday and Monday. The only way to get to Rovinj was a bus. It was not exactly a pleasant day. Once on the small, crowded, hot bus, we found out that it wouldn’t stop at Rovinj. Thank God there was a Croatian woman on the bus who spoke good English. At first she told us we were on the wrong bus, but then she spoke to the driver, and they figured out they could drop us off at a certain place where we could catch another bus to Rovinj. Our bus stopped at a few places along the way for coffee/wine/cigarette breaks. We also stopped at two borders (Slovenia and Croatia) where a man came onto our bus and checked our passports. After the second place, when we were officially in Croatia, that’s when the polka music started. We looked at each other and started laughing, wondering WHAT NEXT. At one stop, Shari got locked in the bathroom of the rest area. It was scary, since there was no one who spoke English (the one woman who spoke English had gotten off the bus by that time). After about five minutes she found her way out. Along the way, we said we wished we weren’t spending all this effort to come to Croatia for only four nights or that we had the yacht of our dreams.

It took over six hours to get to the place where they dropped us off. We have no idea where it was, but the driver pointed out where to wait for the bus that would take us to Rovinj. Twenty-five minutes later the bus did come along and took us to our destination. Once we arrived and saw the Adriatic Sea, we had the same feeling that we had when we arrived at Lucca….like we were coming home. Rovinj is a small ancient port town located right on the Adriatic Sea. We are staying in the same apartment as we did last year. It has three big windows that overlook the beautiful harbor. We have a small kitchen, comfortable living room, small bedroom, bathroom, and air-conditioning. 

This is a picture looking at our apartment from the harbor. Ours is on the second floor of the yellow building with the flowers.   

We had dinner at a place called Scuba where we had the freshest of fish. We strolled along the harbor, and we both agreed it was such a good thing we came here!

Day 20 We had the typical Croatian breakfast – coffee and a brioche. It was so good. We then went to a photo museum. There is a photo/art show in Rovinj that is very interesting. Look closely at the following picture and see if you can see a bit of  M. C. Escher. 

There are competitive photos in places all over town…even outside on the wharf in front of our place.  

We had lunch at one of the best pizza places, Da Sergio. We loved it last year, and we loved it today.

We walked a block to a place to rent bikes. In front, there was the cutest boy playing a ukulele for tips.   How could you refuse this cute kid even if he couldn’t strum a single tune?  Roberto is working on becoming his agent.

We got our bikes and road along the bike path that goes for miles and miles through the trees on one side and the Adriatic Sea on the other. There are no cars. After riding for an hour, we stopped and went swimming. The water was so clean and refreshing.

Dinner was at a restaurant along the harbor. We had fresh fish and vegetables. This harbor town is just amazing. Everyone sits outside to eat, and everyone’s table overlooks the walkway filled with people strolling and biking, and just a few feet beyond is the water and many boats.