Pula & Rovinj, Croatia to Verona, Italy
/One of the first items on our agenda once we got to Rovinj (pronounced "row-VIN") was to relax and have a beach day. We drove down to a national park called Kamenjak, pausing at a supermarket and a roadside fruit stand to buy cherries and sandwich fixings. Instead of butter, we bought a jar of something red with pesto-like consistency, mainly because we couldn't figure out what it was. I'm still not sure, but it was delicious!
The beaches in Croatia are all rocky, so we spread our towels on the hot black rocks between pine trees and the sea. We spent the day devouring books and snacks, occasionally sliding into the water with our snorkel gear to look at the sea cucumbers beneath the surface.
The next day, we dropped our rental car off in neighboring Pula, planning to take a bus back to our AirBnb in Rovinj. We spent a few hours walking around, taking a look at the Roman Amphitheater. The day was hot, so we probably didn't spend as much time exploring the city as we should have, but all I really wanted was to get into some air conditioning for a while.
We spent the last few days relaxing in Rovinj. Every evening, we watched incredible sunsets before finding a place to eat. We enjoyed one restaurant in particular called Rio Snack Bar, mainly because it branched out from the identical menus all of the other restaurants offered. We ended up eating there twice, enjoying truffle ravioli, lobster, and plenty of delicious wine.
One memory that is going to stick with me for a while--when we arrived at our AirBnb, our hostess gave us a plug-in bug repellent that looked like a night light. She told us that it was "for mosquitoes" and that we could plug it in as needed. I thought it was a little strange, since we hadn't noticed any mosquitoes at all. In reality, she was using the wrong English word for the bug she was referring to. She meant "centipede." After one night, they were all of the place, running across the walls with a shocking speed! Chuck killed about 20 of them before we realized that the plug-in kept them at bay. I'll never forget watching TV and noticing something sprinting across the wall next to the TV in the dark!
After our time in Rovinj, we boarded a four-hour ferry to cross the Adriatic Sea to Venice. We're planning to spend time in Venice a bit later, but we wanted to get to Verona to meet up with Reyn, Cindy, and Jake for a day!
We had a few very hot and sweaty walks with them to see the sights, and several absolutely wonderful meals. Jake helped us out by bringing our new credit card with him from the U.S.
After a few days there, we went to Milan for one night in order to pick up our next rental car, which we will have for two months.
