Croatia 2016 Day 11 – Opatija to Pula to Rovinj

We started the day late as travel fatigue set in from all the waking up early and sleeping late daily plus the physical exertion of carrying a 10kg baby K around. We only managed to leave the apartment by 930am and onwards we drove towards Pula, 1.5hrs journey away. Had we not done a stopover at Opatija, we would have had to drive some 4hrs from Zagreb to Rovinj, something that we didn’t want to do with a baby in tow, having learnt our lessons from the last European trip a year back. The toll was 51kunas upon exit and as we searched for parking, the roads were fully lined with cars till the train station. It was not such a bad thing as baby K had a chance to see a real train, the locomotive exhibit was placed just outside the station for people to see and take photo with. We back tracked along the road until we see a roman structure of the Arena, a structure that reminded so much of the Colosseum of Rome that we had visited while in Rome, only difference was that this looked somewhat smaller. The tickets cost 50kunas per head and we had decided to skip this one as we had visited the Colosseum before, and we were running short of both kunas and time. So we took a few photos and left.

We then realised why there were so many cars, an Ironman sports event was ongoing! Nearby across the street behind a huge carpark was a playground and we let baby K play around there for a bit before continuing the walking tour into the old town to Augustus temple. To enter was 5kuna per head and we skipped that as well.

Then we followed the road and went along the circular single lane road that had barricades of plastic red white tapes for the race and lined with old buildings with balconies of Venetian designs. The architecture told of its Venetian influence back in the days. After passing through the Arch, we then continued to walk back to the car, ending our really short stint at Pula.

The drive from Pula to Rovinj was a mere 45mins and baby K had fallen asleep in the car. We got to the Airbnb apartment, a huge 3 storey terrace apartment and our room was on the 2nd floor. We managed to check in early at 1pm and I carried the 2 luggage across the gravel driveway and up the flight of stairs and left them in the room. From there, we drove to town center a couple of minutes away and while baby K still sound asleep, I left mommy and baby K in the parked car (along Ul. Giosue Carduccia) to check out the beautiful coastal town of Rovinj first. Quickly took some photos at the carpark where there was a view point and also at streets near the old town before buying pizza for lunch, from a pizzeria near our parked car.

We ate the pizza in the car until baby K woke up. Then as we left the car (payment of parking fees were through the coin operated ticket dispensing machine at the end of the road), we chose a random quayside cafe, Caffe Bar La Tabacheina, to feed him lunch while the parents enjoyed a cuppa for 30kunas. We also couldn’t go anywhere then as the skies started to drizzle. After lunch, I went back to get my portable spare battery left in the car because the mobile Wifi was running out of battery (couldn’t do without technology these days!). Managed to see Mr Mime sighting during baby K’s lunch, the European exclusive Pokemon on the game radar but didn’t manage to catch him.

After the drizzle ended, we continued to walk towards the old town, first showing my family the viewpoint where we took selfies, before entering the old town of Rovinj proper, which was built on a hill with bell tower of the cathedral being the apex as seen from the view point. We walked upslope on the tiled roads till we were in front of the The Church of St. Euphemia. Took some photos, take in the view and also went into the church for a look before continuing to walk around old town and walking street filled with shops and restaurants. Before going back to the apartment, we drove to another carpark that showed another view of Rovinj, a commonly available viewpoint of the old town during sunset.

I drove the car to the nearest Konzum near our Airbnb but it was closed at 2pm on Sunday. The GPS gave us another supermarket location, and we ended up at Plodine 6mins away which was opened to till 10pm together with 2 other supermarkets Konzum and Lidl. These huge hypermarkets had a huge carpark.

After the groceries shopping, we went back to the apartment to wash up a bit before I drove out myself to the viewpoint for the sunset (as mommy had to cook dinner and baby K stayed in the apartment, entertained by TV). It was a cloudy day but still it was a beautiful sight. I drove to town again to buy takeaway dinner from a restaurant Mikula, a cost of 120kuna for seafood spaghetti and chicken thigh fillet, which tasted ok.

I returned to the apartment and we had our dinner. Initially thought about using the balcony but we couldn’t quite do it as it was quite cold to stay out in the evening. Then it was washing up and putting baby K to sleep early. Mommy had trouble getting the hairdryer from the landlord whom we didn’t managed to contact so mommy waited out till her hair dried. I rested early myself at 10ish too, getting as much as rest I could.