Day 17 - Croatia

It’s been super busy here in travel world, and I have gotten very behind in writing on the blog. I’m going to try and catch up so forgive the posts if they get shorter and simpler as the days go by. 

Today (June 22) we got up early (early according to our vacation schedule of 9:00) and headed to the water taxi at our campsite port to go to the city of Rovinj. This city was fascinating! From the sea and from the streets, it looks like one of the cities in Cinque Terre, Italy. The colorful houses are closely nestled next to the ocean and there are narrow cobblestone streets that dart this way and that. It was a magical place that, in the boys' words, seemed like a Disney world themed area but was real life made obvious by the laundry strewn from windows and the delivery people hauling packages by bike. We ate gelato right away since it was so hot. And soon found ourselves in a shop selling locally made products and being helped by a nice man named Fabio. He gave us tastings of truffles and cheese and shared his political opinions about how much worse off Croatia is now that capitalism has come. It was all very interesting and after buying what we could carry in truffle products we said goodbye to our new friend and headed out to discover more narrow passageways. Down one narrow street we found a shop that is an artist’s studio, bought a painting and talked with the artist for a bit. Then we ate lunch across from it at a tiny modern-looking fried fish bar where we had prawns, squid, shark, and tiny smelt fish. It was delicious! Elijah especially loved the tiny whole fried fish! 

Soon we were back in the stream of tourists making their way to the church up the hill. Outside the church was not stunning but inside it was ornate and filled with books and crannies where people lit candles for prayer and offered flowers at the altar. David discovered that for just a mere 20 Kuna (about $3) we could climb the 189 steps up the bell tower so of course we did that! The steps were narrow and rickety to say the least but we made it and the views were beautiful! Going down those steps was harder than going up but we survived and decided it was worth every Kuna! 

After the hike up and down in the church we were tired and headed back to the water taxi. It was only a 15 minute ride to our campsite. We got back, changed into our bathing suits, and headed for the refreshing water! Today we tried a beach in the opposite direction of yesterday. It was also rocky which proved perfect for snorkeling and had chairs for those of us that wanted to lounge and read a book. The sound of the ocean is so relaxing, we were thankful for the respite in the middle of a busy trip. After the beach we headed to get gelato and then back to our campsite to settle in for the evening, do laundry, and chill in the hammock. Tomorrow we head to Italy with a long day of driving so we soaked up the downtime when it came!