Rovinj, Croatia Days 1 & 2

On Sunday we made the 3.5 hour drive to Rovinj. Almost as soon as we started crossing the foothills of the Dinaric Alps towards Crotatia the landscape changed dramatically, to resemble climate and vegetation more like Italy - lots of Cyprus trees and lush, thick dry plants tucked thickly along hills stretching down to the coast - and little hilltop villages and vineyards all along the way.

The picture below is of the border crossing into Croatia. The border in Slovenia was completely open - although it still felt like you were crossing into an Eastern block country, because the old border station was still there - and the architecture changed so dramatically almost immediately. But since Slovenia is officially in the EU now, there was really no border crossing. Croatia's integration process hasn't finished yet, though, so there was still a border crossing there, and we even got stamps in our passports!

Here is a shot of Rovinj that I took on a later date, but I thought was a nice way to open the first photos from there...

On our first night, after un-packing we headed for the town center for dinner. This was a little gas station I thought was funny right along the road in town. There's barely even enough room to pull off the road!

An open air market on the way into town...

All of the houses along the the edge of the old town sat perched along the edge of the ocean. The old town of Rovinj sits on a small peninsula and the streets are small and wind up and down the hill, with buildings filling almost every square inch of space.

Bas contemplating the best options for Luna's nightly bath...

One of many olive oil stands... we brought some back as gifts infused with bell peppers, rosemary and garlic - smells amazing!

Basil as window dressing... just lean out and pick what you need!

Everybody hangs out their washing - it was everywhere!

One of the public swimming areas along the edge of the city.

This is the bell tower of St. Euphemia which sits at the top of the city hill. It stands 60 m. tall and was modeled after the bell tower on San Marco Piazza in Venice (Rovinj was under the domain of the Venetian empire for a great length of time and has a strong Venetian influence.)

This shot really captures the color of the sky better than any others I have...

Bas taking Luna down some of the narrow and steep, little streets - the cobble stones were local limestone, and quite slippery!

A little shop we found where a local artisan sold his handmade marble goodies. Before we left we bought a mortar and pestle (something we didn't have and needed) as our souvenier.

Bas bought a life vest for Luna the last time he was in the states, thinking that it would be good for her to swim in - not realizing that it was really a boating vest, and would be a bit constrictiting for regular swimming. So it didn't last long on this day, but we were really happy we had it when we were invited for a boat ride the following week!

The view from the beach at our resort, you can see Rovinj in the background...

and a shot of the resort from the beach...

Wearing the cute little cover up Gramma sent...

Second night we went back to Rovinj for dinner, and got some more good shots. Here's a little tribute to Mary tucked into one of the tiny little alleys.

This is the old gateway to the city. It is a Venetian arch, withe the Venetian lion head at the top of the arch. The lion on the outside has quite a menacing look, while the one on the inside looks quite welcoming and jovial.

Luna with her first ever self-held ice cream cone! What a big girl! Look out Papa! And check out that cute little yellow polka-dot dress that Gigi sent!

A lovely Italianate villa in Rovinj, that I loved. Especially the roof-top portico!