“I wonder if the ocean smells different on the other side of the world.”
― J.A. Redmerski, The Edge of Never
Lesson Learned: The best American exports we’ve witnessed in Greece, Egypt, and Croatia are music and movies. You can’t get in a cab, visit a archaeological site, go to a café’, or walk down the street without hearing songs by the Eagles, Aretha Franklin, or Michael Jackson (they LOVE Michael Jackson in Egypt). The movie theaters are full of American movies as well. You also see tons of American T-shirts, Sweat shirts, and baseball caps. I wish I got a dollar for every Yankees cap I’ve seen on this trip. The worst American export (besides McDonalds) is American TV. You cannot flip on the TV without Starsky & Hutch, The Housewives of Atlanta, Naked and Afraid, or Chicago Fire appearing at least 12 times daily. Thank God for Netflix.
Go-Date: Day 90, Monday, April 22
Sites covered in this post: (I decided to add this header just in case you read what’s being covered and decide to go do the New York Times cross word puzzle instead. Ellen says I’m long-winded and I cannot disagree.)
• Seaside village of Rovinj
• Eastern coast of Istrian peninsula
• Wine festival in Gračišće
Rovinj – Hidden jewel on the Adriatic coast
We set up temporary residence in Pula just so we could make day trips around Istria. That is what we did, trekking up to Rovinj, on the coast, all along the eastern edge of the peninsula, and in to Gračišće, which is in the interior.
Rovinj is a Croatian fishing port on the west coast of the Istrian peninsula about an hour drive north of Pula. The old town sits out on a point, shielded by tiny villa-covered islands. The old town proper is navigated through its narrow streets jammed with tiny houses and apartments that spill down the hill into the harbor. The system of interconnecting streets criss-cross the city as if planned by a drunken watch-maker, and these limestone-cobbled passages make their way up to the hilltop church of St. Euphemia (you can’t miss the lone steeple planted on the hilltop like an explorer’s flag).
Rovinj’s 14 islands (I didn’t count them, I read this online) lie a stone’s throw off the mainland. We were going up to the church, but we ate first and that cleansed all the hill-climbing ambition from our souls for the afternoon. I’m told the views from the bell tower are terrific
Rovinj is historic, quaint, very un-American (in a good way) town, and looks and feels more Italian than Croatian. With narrow, winding city streets, a busy, photo-friendly harbor, and some very good (but somewhat pricey) seafood restaurants, all make for good reasons why we are glad we made the day trip up from Pula. The Istrian Peninsula doesn’t get the same crush of tourists as do Split and Dubrovnik, or other spots on the Dalmatian coast, which makes it perfect, in my mind to visit if you want to avoid the crowds. Besides, its just a cool little town. We sat for hours watching the fishing boats bob up and down in the harbor and the visitors mill about trying to decide how to give away their money. It didn’t hurt that the cafés’ had an endless supply of local beers.
Rovinj actually has a lot of beaches scattered around the area, but we aren’t beach people so this wasn’t high on our list to check out. I’d heard that many of beaches in Rovinj are clothing optional. Ellen kept asking why I kept going into camera shops to look for zoom lenses, especially since I don’t have a DSLR camera.
For the most part, we spent the day wandering the old town, enjoying the view from the cathedral, and sampling a few restaurants. Rovinj is one of those places that is perfect for exploring without an itinerary or to-do list. Its so nice just to kick back and have an Ahhhhhh Afternoon. I highly recommend it.
Coastal Drive – Day trip with no destination in mind
After Rovinj (not the same day) we just took a road trip around Istria. The east coast of the peninsula is especially charming when you get up to towns like Rabac, Mošćenička Draga, Lovran, and Ičići. This little trip along the coast is like driving down Highway 1 in California between Santa Monica and Portland, Oregon. Lovran and Ičići reminded me of Monterey and Bodega Bay with its winding roads, palms, pine trees, rocky beaches (without the surf though) and all these Venecian villas clinging to the hills and along the sea shore. There are just so many places to see.
Gračišće –Wine Tasting, One Woman , and Song
On Sunday, Easter Sunday damned nearly everything is closed, with the exception of bars, cafés, gas stations, and souvenir shops. The day broke sunny, warm and still (windless), so we took a road trip. On our arrival the Air BNB host suggested we visit Gračišće, a little town about 55 km from here, for their annual wine festival. He showed us a kitchen cabinet in our unit full of wine glasses, of which half a dozen with the name of the festival stenciled on the glasses. Evidently, he’s been a supporter of this event ever since he’d been old enough to drink. Wooooohoooooo, lets go. Music, wine, food, great weather, I’m in! Every Easter Monday (that is an official holiday here in Croatia.) the cute little town of Gračišće (population about 200, though some say it may be as many as 1,500) hosts a wine tasting festival. Gračišće is a small historical town situated smack dab in the middle of Istria. It’s not close to anything, but it’s a pretty easy jaunt from Pula, Poreč, Rovinj or Rijeka.
Gračišće has long been known for its wine. It should also be known for the beautiful countryside where it sits perched up on a hilltop as well. This event offers good wine by local wine producers, traditional food and local cultural heritage of this village and the surrounding area.. With a drinking glass (purchased at the entrance gate) you can go through town and visit wine cellars and taste the local vintages as many times as you want (which many of the staggering patrons were doing). Before we arrived people were already dancing and singing to local music, sampling the beef, lamb and chicken being prepared over open flames, the traditional Istrian prosciutto, truffles, cheeses, and all sorts of other tasty treats.
The festival has been going on for about 15 years, and this year’s festival was expected to draw about 20,000 visitors. I have no idea where they put all these people. This town is not that large. We hung around for a few hours, sampled a lot of wine, played with their little wine glass washers, ate our fill and watched a lot of drunks sing along with the bands and do what appeared to be a cross between a tribal war dance and Jennifer Lawrence’s ballroom routine in the movie Silver Lining Playbook. After that, we knew it was time to leave. We had a good time and it was a day well spent.