Pula and the Baleful Nudists

Our day in Pula was one of my favorites, involving archaeology, beautiful architecture and good food. As a significant Roman port during antiquity, it was steeped in history. Our first stop was to find a parking spot (in the glorious shade!) and walk to the rather impressive amphitheater which is not only one of the largest in the world, but dates to the first century. The only negative was the exorbitant price being asked to actually enter it. We soon found a sneaky way around this as the amphitheater is in fact open (a seemingly obvious fact, though clearly not to the line of tourists at the entrance) and can therefore be viewed just as well from the outside as the inside. Clever us. 

We entered the town itself through a rather attractive gateway which I spent far too long craning my neck at strange angles to take a nice photo.

It was very nice to be in a town by the sea as it felt like so long since I had seen the ocean. Strangely I didn't notice the usual salty smell on the air that one usually gets with having the sea in close proximity, but I enjoyed the view nonetheless. Our next stop was the Temple of Augustus, once part of a trio of temples and the only one lucky enough to still exist - even so it was in fact bombed in 1944 and later carefully reconstructed. 

Today the Temple of Augustus is used as a Lapidarium to display the fragments of Roman sculpture still extant. I especially like the little statuette of Athene flexing her muscles with a distinctly 'come at me bro' attitude. 

Pula was also the place where we received our first dose of Croatian hospitality and friendliness, beginning with our waiter and this lovely little restaurant serving traditional Istrian food. Not only was the food and decor very nice, but I was impressed with the waiters and owners who seemed to know their clientele well and often sit down for a chat with them. After sampling the delicious 'cheesecake' (calling it Cheesecake is like comparing marshmallows to tar -it was an entirely lighter, fluffier and better texture entirely) which came with surprisingly tasty fig compote (who knew!) we ended up chatting with our waiter at the entrance as not only was his service impeccable but he was also very friendly and very knowledgeable on the history of Istria, providing us with many tidbits of interesting information.

Kamenjac National Park was a strong recommendation in Lonely Planet, citing Istria's best beaches and beautiful wildflowers to be seen on the drive. Although we had a little trouble getting in (it turned out the ticket office at the entrance wasn't for purchasing tickets of course - silly us - so we had to go back to the closest town to purchase them there.) we eventually made it in with our day pass for the car. Unfortunately we came at the wrong season and there were no wildflowers to be seen, just dead grass and a lot of dust. Perhaps if we had continued diving we would have spotted the fabled glorious beaches but as it was we simply stopped at a rocky one for a bit of a swim and a sunbathe. Cleverly I forgot my bathing suit and had to settle for glaring at Yannick enjoying his swim with great delight.

Unfortunately there was some sort of festival going on making all the campsites for that night full or extremely expensive. One hellish drive until late at night later, we finally found a giant campsite not too badly priced and pitched our tents right on the shore of the beach. Awaking in the morning we discovered to our surprise we had set up in a distinctly nudist area, the people of which seemed to enjoy simply wandering around in said state. Thus we soon moved on! Although the drive had been awful and setting up our tents in the middle of the night was no fun at all, the location of the campsite meant we were able to quickly pop into the nearby town of Bale which turned out to be very beautiful. A small village firmly off the tourist trail, it was almost completely deserted which allowed us to wander at will and take in the beautiful old streets and the sun-soaked stones. 

Rovinj: Into the most beautiful country on earth

Feeling tourist-ed out from our trip to Piran, we did the intelligent thing of crossing the border into the heavenly country that is Croatia (no favoritism here of course) and entering into another extremely touristy town. Clever us.

As always with these places however, they are usually touristy for a reason. Namely, they are beautiful and fun to explore as long as you don't spend too long and can then recover by visiting some very tranquil places afterwards! We ignored the tourist shops (selling a plethora of sandals, sunglasses and snorkles) and headed up further into the town. Although bustling, we found if we avoided the main walkways things became quieter.

One of our main problems in fact wasn't the tourists, but the cobblestones themselves. Unlike the rough stone that I was accustomed to in Europe, Croatia seemed to favor smooth and flat white paving stones which looked beautiful but were unnaturally slippery. Warn smooth over time, heading downhill in this town proved to be a lot harder than it looked, with much slipping and skidding. Thank goodness it wasn't raining!

My favourite thing about this town was the little alleyways and steps that all suddenly opened out onto the azure ocean, affording beautiful views. 

As we headed back to our car we took in the fishing boats of which there were a decent number, Rovinj being an old fishing port after all. The most interesting thing however wasn't the boats but the nefarious looking jellyfish which lurked around them! They looked more like sea sponges until I saw their undulating tentacles and realized what they truly were. Any thoughts of fancying a nice dip on such a sunny day instantly evaporated from my mind.

Piran: Pilfering Pirates, Cute Cats and Tourist Traps

The town of Piran is firmly located on the tourist map, but with good reason. Accessible only by foot (the town itself being fully medieval with tiny winding alleyways) there was a small and rather full carpark at the top of the hill (which led to some slightly illegal parking by us) and from there a beautiful view of the town spread out before us. Piran is of course an old town, with a long history; but the thing I liked most about it was its name. Piran makes me think of a pirate port, and interestingly enough the Illyrian tribes that once resided in these hills were notorious pirates who disrupted Roman trade! (Take that, Romans!) In typical Roman fashion however, this town was soon incorporated into the Roman Empire.  

Meandering down the steep hill to enter into the town itself afforded us some splendid views as we ended up by the church overlooking the ocean on one side, and the town on the other. Not only that but upon beginning our descent into the actual town itself, we meandered the most gorgeous and quaint alleyways imaginable. This far out from the city city, all was quiet. 

It was beautiful, like something out of a storybook or travel brochure- not something you ever expected to see with your own eyes. It was also however, crawling with people the further into the city we got. Although strolling the waterfront and taking in the clear blue sea (making me very tempted for a spontaneous swim regardless of being fully clothed) was extremely pretty, we were pushing through throngs of people to do so, which was rather less fun. 

Our struggle with the overflow of tourism got to such a point that as we lamented the fact that we hadn't come at a quieter time of day, we decided to do just that and return at an ungodly hour in the morning to experience Piran properly. This would give us the opportunity to wander at will with only ourselves and the copious amounts of hanging washing across alleyways to keep us company. 

 

One hellish sleep later (not only was the campsite expensive but we were banished to a ledge surrounded by bush: hello swarms of mosquitoes!) we forced ourselves up at some ungodly dark hour, but it was worth it. The town was deserted, the sun just rising, and not a tourist in sight, only a few sleepy locals setting about opening their cafes. Walking the town like this presented a far different view from the night before, more tranquil and it truly felt like a medieval town rather than a tourist trap. 

Being out and about so early had other perks too, namely cats. We saw a fair number that must have been hiding somewhere and quailing from the hordes of tourists the night before (as all intelligent creatures would). This one as was adorable and soft, but more interested in staring at Yannick than posing for my photograph.