Croatia - May 2013

This is the first of three LARGE blog posts from our trip to Europe. To get you up to speed, Chris and I celebrated our 20th Anniversary in January. We have had a blast traveling all over the U.S. and Mexico with the kids, but this time we wanted a trip just for us...to get away from our crazy schedules and re-connect.  This trip forced us out of our comfort zone and we really had to be a strong team and learn to navigate three countries, three languages and two currencies. I have to give a shout out to Chris for doing a fabulous job of driving us around in our little rental car. We had a few snafus along the way, but he handled the challenge and we came home in one piece. The trip was wonderfully exhausting and fabulous. We enjoyed our time together and after 11 days, came home on the same airplane - I'd call that a success!

 

I will admit that planning a trip to Europe was totally overwhelming for me. So many place to go. So many places to see. Where to begin?

 Croatia is becoming a new discovered vacation destination but still a bit off the beaten path. Chris' families have origins in the country which made the visit more special.

 We stayed at the beautiful Hotel Eden in Rovinj, Croatia.

A view of the outside of our hotel. It was a lovely hotel with a fabulous full breakfast each day, sleek and comfortable rooms and beautiful grounds.

 We only had one afternoon to spend at the pool. Weather was mild, but the sun was warm.

 Old Town, Rovinj was just a short walk from our hotel. This view of the city always made me catch  my breath. Rovinj (pronounced Row-veen) is located on the West coast of Croatia on the Adriatic Sea on the peninsula known as Istria. Rovinj, known as Rovigno in Italian, is an ancient city that was built on a small island just off the coast.  In the 18th century the channel was filled in and island was connected to the mainland, providing the city with access to the coast.

 Our first full day in Croatia was a bit rainy. So we decided to head a bit South to the city of Pula, which is home to some fabulous Roman ruins. We took country roads all the way there and saw these stone huts all along the way.

 Every old farm was surrounded by rock walls rather than fences. I could have looked at these rock walls all day. I never get tired of them and love to imagine how they were constructed. Reminds me very much of all the old rock walls we saw in Rhode Island!

 These huts are amazing in their construction if you really look at them. There is no mortar. Just rocks.

 It was such a mystery to us what they could be. When we arrived in Pula we inquired about them and found out they are called Kazun and were used as shelters and storage sheds for the shepherds so they could sleep close to the flocks in the fields.

 

I will admit I was a bit leery about driving a car on our trip...but I am SO glad we did. We had so much fun meandering the countryside and stopping in little villages - of which ALL had beautiful church steeples you could see for miles.

 

We arrived in Pula (poo-la) and parked right in front of this Roman gate. Seriously, we parked in front of a Roman gate that was built in mid 1st Century B.C. Crazy.

 We were anxious to take in the Roman ruins we had read about. Imagine our surprise when we found out they are smack in the middle of town. "Excuse me, can you tell me how to get to the post office?" "Sure, just take a left at the Roman collesium. You can't miss it." WHAT?

 There it was in all its glory. Breathtaking.

 

The Pula Arena, as its called, is a nearly 2000 year old Roman amphitheater and is the sixth largest surviving amphitheater from the Roman Empire

The Pula Arena is unique in that it is the only surviving Roman amphitheater to retain a complete circuit of outer wall, really allowing you to appreciate its size.  Standing in the middle of this ancient structure, it is chilling to imagine the spectacles that unfolded here in ancient times, with brutal gladiator battles that involved fierce animals, bloody violence, and the roar of a Roman crowd. Below is a cool video that I took to give you a sense of the space.

It was no small feat getting pictures of the two of us on this trip. Most folks were NOT friendly and before I set up my timer for this shot I had asked a German guy to take a photo and was told very gruffly, "NO!". Who knows if he thought I was trying to steal his camera or what. Needless to say, I got very adept at setting my little tri-pod up everywhere we went.

Chris was really in his element here. You can hear him on the video commenting on a guy making a "Gladiator pose" nearby...as he had just asked me minutes before if I wanted a picture of him in his "gladiator pose."

Not a bad view from their kitchen window!

Send in the lions!!!

 

 

After our time at the arena we continued to explore the rest of the town. We hiked to the highest point in town to see the fort named in the sign above.

Pula is the largest city in Croatia and situated at the southern tip of the Istria Peninsula.  The city has a long tradition of winemaking, fishing, and shipbuilding.

Everywhere we walked we would see these beautiful vegetable gardens that are obviously so lovingly tended.

Outside of the fort.

You can see the arena over Chris' right shoulder. Pretty sure this fence isn't going to keep us from plummeting to our deaths, but it was charming in a rustic way.

As we explored around the fort we stumbled upon various ruins just lying discarded in the long grass. I will admit, if I lived in Pula , the piece in the photo above I would have stolen for my mantel.

Everywhere we went were nooks and crannies like this just taken over by nature (and graffiti).

 

 

Just another day at the Forum. That darn lady in red was there forever checking her phone. I finally gave up waiting for her to leave.

It started to rain so we ducked into a little sidewalk café for coffee and dessert.

On our way back to Rovinj we made a stop to view Lim, Fjord. Quite a spectacular view.

The water is that color everywhere. So beautiful.

Okay...so I have to backtrack at this point. When we checked in to our hotel in Rovinj, the desk clerk asked if we were visiting someone while we were here. He noticed our last name on our passports and got pretty excited to show us a map of Croatia and a nearby town called "Marasi." The other gal at the desk even mentioned a friend of hers who has the last name of Maras. So on our way back from Pula we also made a pitstop in Marasi, Croatia. A very very very small little village.

Chris has many fond memories of pig roasts growing up. As we left Marasi, we kept seeing local restaurants with pigs roasting on spits in front. We pulled into this lovely spot and had by far the BEST meal of our trip. I had killer gnocchi with smoked ham and Chris had homemade pasta with local asparagus. We both had roast pig as well right off the spit.

 

That night the skies cleared and we headed into Old Town Rovinj for an evening stroll.

I just can't put into words how lovely it is.

 

The Old Town area was very busy with tourists, but it was so clean and tidy. People who live there take great pride in their town.

 

The architecture and colors were stunning.

The narrow cobblestone streets are worn to a shine. Oh, how I wish my patio looked like this!!!

 

We hiked up to the top of the hill to the Church of St. Euphemia. It really is an interesting story on how this church came to be. Here is a link if you'd like to read more about it. http://www.inforovinj.com/eng/rovinj/kultura/SvEufemija.asp

Stopping for our nightly gelato on the way back to our hotel.

The next day we rented bikes and took off up the coast. Adjacent to our hotel was a national park land so everything was very pristine and undisturbed.

This was a very popular spot for climbers of all ages!  We saw entire families geared up and climbing the rocks.

It was a bit cool, but the air was so crisp and fresh. It was really a lovely way to explore the Adriatic Coast.

 

There were little spots along the way to enjoy a drink or a snack.

Not only was the water such a beautiful shade of green that my camera just couldn't capture, it was clear as glass.

Chris found these "pill boxes" left over from the war. He quickly learned though that you do NOT go inside one of these structures. All sorts of nastiness inside.

After four nights in Rovijn, it was time to head to Slovenia. In trying to be efficient, we headed 3 hours southwest to Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia before heading back 3 hours north to Ljubljana, Slovenia. (pronounced loo-bee-ana. However, our GPS pronounced it Jubi-jana which had us laughing out loud)

It was a glorious drive, but there really was no where to stop on the road and take in the view. Lots of road construction which was frustrating and scary. We did find one place to pull over so Chris could have a respite from white knuckle driving. Luckily there was a beautiful little village right below us.

Speaking of below us, check out the road above us that we just drove on! You can see the little red/green truck on the highway below. Poor Chris about crapped his pants when we found ourselves on that little piece of highway. Hence the need for a pitstop.

Our GPS came in really really handy on this trip. However, there were times where we both wanted to throw her out the window. Check out the road she took us on to get to Plitvice Lakes. Looks like a small intestine. As the road got narrower and windier, we finally turned around and used a good old fashioned map to get us there.

I didn't zoom in to get this shot. This was after we turned around and headed back to civilization.

Arriving at Plitvice Lakes we parked by the COOLEST little van I have ever seen. What I wouldn't have given for a peek inside!!!!

 

After a long morning in the car we were so excited to see these waterfalls from a distance. You'll see why this is so funny...

 

Plitvice Lakes National Park (plit-veetz-see) is the oldest national park in Southeast Europe and the largest national park in Croatia. The national park was founded in 1949 and is situated in the mountainous karst area of central Croatia, at the border to Bosnia and Herzegovina. (we figured we were near Bosnia when our GPS had us driving by old buildings riddled with bullet holes) The national park is world famous for its lakes arranged in cascades. Currently, 16 lakes can be seen from the surface. These lakes are a result of the confluence of several small rivers and subterranean karst rivers. The lakes are all interconnected and follow the water flow. (thank you Wikipedia)

We spent about 6 hours hiking through this amazing park on wooden paths like the one above.

Water was everywhere zipping down the hillsides into holes like these.

The trees were ginormous and amazing. I will use the word amazing a lot in this section. Sorry.

This was a total surprise for us and a true highlight of our trip.

Everywhere, and I mean everywhere you looked there were cascades of water. And the sound....lush, rushing water from every direction.

We truly felt like we were in the Garden of Eden...no exaggeration. I am sorry my camera couldn't even begin to capture the beauty of this place.

Here is a video I took of one spot where were almost completely surrounded by water falls.

 

You can see the water rushing under my feet if you look closely!

This park is preserved beautifully. No trash. No traffic. No commercialism. Just nature.

It was amazing how close we were to the rushing water at all times. It just filled your head.

A lovely duck surrounded by fish - the water was crystal clear everywhere.

We took a boat to another part of the park.

 

Best I could do using an old tree stump.

So tempting, all this water.

This clear, blue cave reminded us so much of the Cenote we went scuba diving in while in Mexico. I was glad to be above the water and dry, thank you very much.

 

Posing in front of what's called the "Big Falls". Funny little story. Because I didn't have much luck finding someone to snap photos of us, I was always listening for someone speaking English (not easy on this trip, let me tell you). Here we ran into a group of 5 college students from UW-Madison!!! The sweet little gal I talked to was from Plymouth, MN and her grandma grew up on Kelly Lake near Hibbing...small, small, world. They are studying abroad in Budapest for a year. Very nice group of kids. I kind of regret never doing anything like that when I was their age.

It was so neat to hike up to the top and see the walking paths we were on below.
Such a different perspective!

Great shot of the tiered lakes.

After hours and hours of hiking we were STARVING!!! Upon exiting the park there were several stands where local women sold all sorts of different strudels. The pieces were huge and delicious!!!

I picked cherry, and I ate the whole thing.

Croatia - what a gem of a country!