March 19, 2011. Saturday. Rovinj. It was sunny in Pula and an hour later in Rovinj it was not! Rovinj is a picturesque small coastal town north of Pula with a harbor and old, narrow, stepped streets. Tip of the Day: park and walk around and enjoy the atmosphere of this old and vibrant town, even in March before the tourist season actually begins. The most notable architectural feature of this town is the church at the top of the hill with a very tall bell tower that can be seen from almost everywhere in Rovinj. The Church of St Euphemia’s bell tower was modeled after St Mark's in Venice. The church is dedicated to St Euphemia and contains the tomb of this Christian martyr who, according to legend, mysteriously appeared offshore one dark and stormy night. All along the steep winding streets you can see pastel colored houses clustered together with houses that have not been painted in these romantic colors.
A few of the 1,244 islands of Croatia can be seen from Rovinj. The Brijuni Islands are nearby and are famous for the Brijuni National Park, with Mediterranean vegetation and cultural heritage from Roman and Byzantine times. When Josip Broz Tito was President of Yugoslavia, his official residence was on Great Brijuni Island. In earlier times, Roman emperors had their summer residences here.
We had a wonderful seafood lunch that came with so much food, it quickly became our dinner! Two different fish, mussels, octopus, squid, and small lobsters, all grilled using olive oil. The small lobsters were probably not grilled but boiled in water. We should have taken a picture of the platter when it arrived – we can’t believe we ate the whole thing!!! And weren’t hungry again until around 9:00 PM when we each had a small PBJ sandwich.
Just click on the following link to see my photos of Rovinj.
Next weekend we hope to take a ferry to Brijuni National Park. We also hope it's sunny and warm by then.
So interesting and beautiful! Thanks for broadening our horizons.
ReplyDeletejust beautiful ruins, those Romans were everywhere! April will probably be alot warmer, bundle up till then
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