Happy Birthday, yestravel! What fun to spend it in a foreign land. The picture of Bled looks fabulous. Sounds like a great place to slow down for a few days, do day hikes, and get out on the water.

Yes, Andrew provided great ideas on places to visit and routes to take. Due to the bad weather we didn’t do them all. Try to drive to the towns on a weekday or even Saturday. I would have enjoyed seeing them open and busy although there was a certain eerieness to the desertion. We also visited Dražgoše and Radlovich. There’s a lot of interesting villages to wander about esp if you have good weather. Although the drives are so scenic it’s fine never to leave your car.
i became fascinate with these drying racks which are scattered all over the area. Gotttravel is posting more phodrying racks are


These drying racks fascinated me.

The scenery is wonderful despite less than ideal weather.


I think you you have a nice trip planned. We had huge cruise ships in port in Split so the crowds can be overwhelming, we tended to go early or late in the afternoon and found other places to occupy us during the busy times. Haven’t been to Dubrovnik yet, but I anticipate the same.

TP Lake Bled and Bohinj do indeed offer lots of outdoor activities, but we didn’t partake of any. I would imagine on a nice day hiking in the alps would we splendid.

Sounds like such an interesting trip, despite weather! Great pictures. Happy Birthday!

Thanks for the birthday wishes, everyone.
glover, This trip has a fair amount of variety in terms of what we have seen. That was something I worried a bit about. Lots of people said Croatia is beautiful, but how many cutesy walled towns can you see? That was esp true for the Istrian peninsula, but each town offered very diferentt sites, so boredom or whatever didn’t set in. Then going from there to Plitvice and then onto SplIt, all so very different.

stCirq, why you could scoot over for long weekends, you lucky person. Hope you have gotten some sun over there.

liz, love the photos. We saw nothing on any of the 100’s of racks we saw. I was initially puzzled as to what they were. What month were you there? Nice to see the church in sort of sun.

We hope to ge the Istrian Peninsula posted shortly. We have a ferry ride that should provide an opportunity to get it done.

Mosaics - Pula

Mosaics - Poreč

Rovinj

Clouds -Opatija

Sunset

View from our room

Fjord
Are We in Italy?
Our original planned route to Rovinj was to go through the Julian Alps. The wind and rain forced us to reconsider this routing. Instead we decided to go via the Croatian riveria and inland. The most interesting aspect of the drive was the turbulent sky and the incredible cloud formations it produced.
We misheeded the directions from our hotel in Rovinj and ended up on the wrong side of town from where we were to park and be picked up. A phone call to the hotel corrected the situation. Within minutes a cheerful hotel staff person showed up in an electric golf cart and led us to the parking lot. From there we were whisked away to the fabulous Hotel Adriatic located on the port. When we entered our corner room overlooking the port we were ecstatic. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect room. It was large, had an enormous, comfortable bed, views out multiple windows, a comfy chair and table, a large closet with lots of hangars. One wall was strategically covered with smoked mirrors that reflected harbor, the sky and the water. The staff at the Hotel Adriatic were all unfailingly helpful and nice. Even the weather finally pitched in and we eventually had warm sunshine and were to enjoy evenings of fantastic sunsets. As you might gather, we loved our stay here.

Over the next 3.5 days we explored the enticing Istrian peninsula.
Our first exploration took us to Pula with its many Roman ruins. We visited the remarkably intact Roman amphitheater, strolled thru an ancient Roman arch to have coffee with a statue of James Joyce, saw the Roman forum building and searched out the mosaics. The mosaics were somewhat difficult to find as they were located in behind an apt building. After WW2, during the clearing of bombarding debris, a magnificent mosaic depicting the mythological punishment of Dirce was found near the Church of St. Mary Formosa. Pula struck us as a town worth more in-depth exploration. However there was a major wind storm and cold weather affecting the city so we chose to leave.

We left Pula and headed north stopping briefly in nearby Vidnjan to check out a few of its enormous murals. Then we headed for the Kažun Park to take a gander at the stone huts once used for farm storage; they looked a bit like the trulli of Puglia in Italy. Then we stopped for lunch at Stara Konoba in Fažana, a cute town built around a fishing harbor. This modest restaurant was totally full with a tour group and we waited for a while before finally being seated. The wait was worth it. We had an outstanding meal and would recommend Stara Konoba.

We began the following day by vainly searching for frescoes in a sequence of churches that were all locked up. Then we went to the hill town of Grožnjan. It had gorgeous views across the countryside, but was a tad touristy for our taste. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed just driving around the countryside with its hill towns and shapely Italianate trees. We ate that night at the cheerful Restaurant Rio on the Rovinj waterfront, another restaurant we’d recommend.

The next day we had arranged for a guided tour that covered what we had not already visited on the Istrian Peninsula. We started with the Lim Fjord, stopping at an overlook above the spectacular narrow sea canyon. Then we moved on to Vrsar, renown for Casanova’s residency and some magnificent sea views. On the outskirts of town we visited the Sculpture Park Džamonja. The sculptures exhibited in the park are part of the collection of the Džamonja’s legacy. He was Tito’s favorite sculpture and his abstract modernist sculpture are featured throughout the world. I found them “interesting” while got found them repetitive.

Next up was Poreč, another attractive seaside town. There we had a fine iced caffeinated beverage and then visited the stunning 6th Century Byzantine mosaics at the Basilica of Euphrasius. These rank with the mosaics of Ravenna, Monreale and Celafu as among the finest we’ve ever seen. Lastly, we hit the hill town of Motovun and had a mediocre meal with a great view. We walked the walls and learned about the significance of whether the Venetian lion held an open or closed book. That evening, our last in Rovinj, we had another superb meal, this time at Monte, a Michelin starred restaurant.

Between our excursions, we also explored Rovinj, a destination in its own right - St. Euphemia’s Church overlooking both town and sea has particularly spectacular views. We also managed to stock up on truffle products - salami and cheese from a roadside stand.

it was, but everywhere we have been has had its uniqueness. Despite awful weather we have really enjoyed our time in the Balkans. I hope you do too.

We’re in Dubrovnik now and had a very good, moderately priced meal, Konoba Dundo Maroje. It’s a small place off the Stradum.

Thank you! Glad you are enjoying it. We’re loving it��
We used a guide for just one day. The other 2 days we drove on our own. rialtogirl on this site gave us Renato’s contact info for a guide.. His phone is 00385 91 521 6206 and email is [email protected]. He picked us up at 9 and we returned ~4:30. He charged us €260 for the day. If you’d like more info, feel free to PM me. If you contact him, give him our best.

Such a great mix of destinations, really enjoying following along.

Adeleaidean - glad you’re still following along. I like trip that have a variety of experiences and this one did that.

Rialtogrl- what a bummer to have such weird, unpleasant weather on your trip. We certainly have had our share of lousy weather this trip. Much to my surprise we have had sunshine most of today. Who knows what tomorrow will bring? Thanks for the rec on Fat Cat. OHad just eaten, but maybe tomorrow. We’ve walked past it a few times. We just got some nice cherries at the market today.

Plitvice Rules


Book lodging for the night before as close to the park as possible. Buy tickets on-line for the earliest admission available; when we were there the park opened at 8:00 a.m. Enter the park per the timed admission. Enjoy; the park is a fabulous wonderland.




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