Why Would Anyone Want to Go to Croatia?

I can’t tell you how many times we were asked this question while we were planning our trip to Croatia. I suppose people from the states still associate Croatia with the Yugoslav wars. In reality, there is very little to remind you of the war that ended in 1995. Croatia is a beautiful country, with friendly people, excellent food, and an interesting history.
 

We actually started our adventure from Trieste, Italy. We drove our cute little Alfa Romeo south from Trieste, through Slovenia, and into Croatia. Our first stop was Umag, a port town almost directly across the Adriatic Sea from Venice. We stopped for a quick lunch before hitting the road and heading further south.
 

Sometimes things happen to change your plans. Our quick lunch turned into a leisurely one. The waiter was an excellent salesman who talked us into splurging. Big time. We started with an appetizer of scallops, scampi, prawns and mussels in Buzara Sauce. This is one of many wonderful seafood recipes available along the Dalmatian coast, and it definitely has been influenced by Italian cuisine. The sauce is an aromatic mixture of garlic, parsley, tomatoes, and white wine.
 

The main course was sea bass (Curtis’ personal favorite), scampi, mussels, and calamari. As you do in most good seafood restaurants on the coasts of Europe, we went to where the fish was iced down to make our selection. Of course, with the appetizer and the meal, you must have bread. Ours was a nice fresh crusty bread that hit the spot!

Having completely gorged ourselves, we walked around town a bit then headed south in our car. We stopped in Poreč, another picturesque coastal village, with narrow streets and interesting Roman ruins.

We walked through the Euphrasian Basilica, parts of which date to the 6th century. And as we so often do, we had a little gelato for an afternoon treat.

Our final stop of the day was Rovinj (pronounced Rōvēēn), where we would be staying for two nights. We checked into our hotel, the Residence Porta Antica, dropped off our luggage, then headed out to explore. We walked through the Rovinj Market, with its produce, fish, truffles, and other local food products, and then wandered down the old winding streets of the town. We ended up at one of the bars on the harbor, where we watched the sun set while sipping a nice refreshing beer.

That first night we ate dinner at the Porta Antica Restaurant. We sat outside enjoying the cool breezes off the water and dined on a very satisfying meal of Istrian sausage, schnitzel and fries.
 

The next morning, we slept in and then took a walk through Rovinj, all the way up to the top of the hill where the Church of St Euphemia perches. The views of the impossible blue Adriatic Sea from the square in front of the church are incredible.

After lunch at another port-side restaurant, Bistro Istra, where we had an excellent meal of fried calamari and gnocchi with truffle sauce, we drove south to Pula and the Pula Arena. This Roman amphitheater, among the six largest surviving in the world, was built around the time of the birth of Christ. Holding about 23,000 spectators, the arena was used for gladiator fights until the 5th century when they were outlawed. After that, it was left to ruin and people used it for building materials. This is now a concert venue, and has even been the site of a couple of ice hockey games.

After a refreshing gelato from a shop just down the street from the arena, we headed to Vodnjan to see the mummies, inside The Church of St. Blaise. We saw the mummies of Beatae Nicolosae Bursa (died Apr 34, 1512), Beati Johannis Olini Plebanis (died May 21, 1300), Sancti Leonis Bembo (died October 20, 1188), and Sancti Pauli Constantinop (died June 7, 350). There was also the torso of Sancti Sebastianus (died Jan 20, 282) and the feet of Sancti Barbara (died Dec 4, 288). Weird stuff. No pictures allowed.

We returned to Rovinj and headed back to our favorite place – the port area. It’s interesting and beautiful and there’s lots of restaurants and bars where you can sit outside and just watch the world go by. We had a couple of beers and watched the sunset, then wandered over to a restaurant for pizza. What a great way to end our Istrian holiday!
 

Our hotel room in Rovinj was comfortable and cozy. One thing we found irritating about it was the street light right outside our window. It was so bright we couldn’t sleep! We stacked the cushions and pillows from the couch in front of the window, but just couldn’t block out the light. When we checked out we told the owner we loved the room except for that street light; she looked at us like we were crazy and asked why we didn’t just close the shutters! We had to laugh at ourselves; being from North Texas we just view shutters as decorations not as something that you actually use to put over the windows.

Rovinj is a very laid-back sort of place. We plan to return someday and spend a lot more time relaxing in the sun. Because not only is Croatia the sort of place we like to visit, it’s the sort of place we like to go to again and again!