We had a bit of a sleep-in day this morning (which meant Beth was off earlier doing a “lap”) and then settled in to a great breakfast in a fantastic setting. The Piran City Hotel was a fantastic find, as have all of our hotels so far.
After breakfast we did some more exploring with the girls, and Beth stumbled upon a shop that I think she had secretly scouted out on her walk this morning... she walked out with two new tops and a beaming smile.
Mid morning, we packed up and got in our shuttle to the parking lot just outside the city center area. We drove south and in short order we crossed the border and said goodbye to Slovenia and hello to Croatia. I switched my wallet stash from Euros to Kuna (Croatia still hasn’t earned entry into the common Euro currency) as we noticed subtle changes to the landscape. Like when we drove in to Italy, things were more “normal” here than pristine Slovenia. Don’t get me wrong, the Croatia we’ve seen so far has been fantastic, but Slovenia was something else.
We sped south and within another half hour turned off the expressway and headed for our detour town: Rohinj. We were in the “Istria” area of Croatia, which has a very Italian feel to it. Rohinj is one of those picturesque old Croatian seaside towns that call to you when you read about them.
We wound our way into the town center, eventually getting to narrower and narrower streets, all the while looking for parking. Nothing. The place was packed. We got right to the waterfront and started heading away from town again when we spotted a tiny little parking spot along a road lined with parked cars. I did my best Mr Bean parallel parking job, continuing to hold the title, in my self promoted, brainwashed-to-kids opinion as best/luckiest parker in the world.
When we took to foot, we started to fry. The sun was high already and there wasn’t a cloud to be seen. It was in the high 30s and we were melting. We walked downhill until we got to the pedestrian only area of the old town. Rovinj actually used to be an island with double lined defensive walls, but over time the land between the island and mainland was filled in and now it makes a small peninsula. The island rises sharply to a giant church with huge steeple tower jutting out proudly in the center top of the island. All of the alleyways are cobbled and narrow, with tons of interesting buildings looming over the tiny streets and providing some nice shade.
We meandered, hoping to get lost but unable to. Everything kind of led up towards the church, so we continued wending our way up until we were spit out on the plateau at the top. The view of the Adriatic was like a cruel temptation to jump off the edge and cool off. The church was large, but a little tacky with a disorganized feeling inside. We set out on the opposite side of the island and worked our way down.
There were hundreds of people cooling off in the water or drying off on the rocks below us. It was quite a site. We eventually made our way down near the neck of the peninsula and found a spot for lunch that had a refreshing misting machine by our table. Ahh.....
After a nice lunch, we walked around the marina, taking in the amazing view of the old town from afar.... very cool.
We returned to the car half and hour later, much to the relief of the three girls who were cooked to well done at that point. On our way out of town, we got stuck behind a bus and a dozen cars who were behind a jackass that I think had just rented a Jag that kept stalling. The guy clearly couldn’t manage driving stick - something you really shouldn’t do if you’re not proficient at it in this country. It was hilarious, then annoying, then frustrating, then hilarious again. Eventually, the guy got out and his female companion got in to try and give it a go. The car continued to stall and jerk up and down. Eventually, we all went in the opposite lane and passed them, shooting them glares.
We had four hours to drive across the north of the country to our final destination today of Plitvices National Park. Road trip playlist? Check. AC? Check. Girls asleep? Check.
The roads were actually fantastic and fast for the first two and a half hours. The highways regularly cut through hillsides with tunnels from one to ten kilometres long. They also regularly pass over beautiful bridges that span huge chasms, all the while on beautiful pavement with amazing road markings and service stations with floors you could eat off every twenty to thirty kilometres.
Eventually we had to leave the highway and we started to lumber along a two lane road that brought us through some nice countryside. We started to see a lot of damaged buildings, newly (poorly) rebuilt houses, larger buildings with bombed out roofs - all remnants from the war. The area we were headed to was apparently the most heavily bombed by the Serbians.
The road continued to get narrower and curvier. We had climbed some low mountains and seemed to be descending a bit as we reached our final destination. Eventually, we entered the National Park and continued on in a beautifully shaded forest.
We got to our hotel at about 6pm. It reminds us a bit of the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia. The hotel is a grouping of three story “cottages”with four or five units in each. We dropped our bags and lounged outside on the chaises while the girls sat on an outdoor bed and chatted. A very relaxing place.
The meal was amazing and we headed to our rooms relatively early. Tomorrow we have a cool hike planned... from the pictures and stories I’d heard of this place, it should be a great day.
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