Croatia - Istrian Peninsula

 Met up in Zagreb with Santa Cruz expats and headed for the Istrian peninsula.

Our first stop was in Rovinj (pronounced Roveen). 

We stayed in the pedestrian old town. Lots of restaurants, bars, shops, and nightlife.

Also, just a few boats.

And yachts of varying sizes. This is one of the smallest ones. 

There were not a lot of yachts - 1 giant one, a couple of large, a few medium, and fewer than 10 of this size.

View of Rovinj and anti-facism monument. 

Croatia has a long history of fascism, resistance, and wars related to fascism. 

Both Rovinj and Groznjan had memorials dedicated to anti-fascism. 

June 22 in Croatia is a National Holiday dedicated to anti-fascism.

And yet, the internet will tell you that in the 1990s when Croatia was most recently in a period of upheaval, thousands of anti-fascism monuments were removed.

We know this is very recent history though, as tourists, the country today seems prosperous and peaceful. 

Mariner statue on top of the church in Rovinj.

The entire shore of this bay was full of people enjoying the water. 

Most of the shore did not have sand. The inflatable fun park had a fee. 

This bay was within walking distance of old town for us but not if you were carrying beach items. 

The parking near the bay looked to be at capacity. 

There are three large hotels fronting this bay. Their shore areas were full of lounge chairs and umbrellas. 

The fourth and largest hotel looks toward Rovinj rather than this bay.  

And judging by the quality of their shops and the several yachts parked out front, the Grand Park Hotel is a luxury establishment.

This is the “beach” of Old Town Rovinj. It also was packed with people. 

There is no nearby parking so probably these are locals and overnight tourists. 

Sunset from Rovinj

In the evening old town is packed with people. This shoe store was popular. 

These are handmade leather shoes. 

Not exactly one of a kind but unlikely to find more than one pair in the same size & color scheme.

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Jeff got lucky that a pair of the snazzy stripy green & tan were in his size.

Robin wasn’t so lucky; the one’s she wanted were not available in her size.

We could have had these shoes for free.

After Rovinj we went inland on the Istrian Peninsula.

This is Motovun. It is a small place with a big tourist draw. 

We were able to drive past but the parking looked too crazy crowded so we didn’t even try to visit.

However, we didn’t need to visit Motovun because we spent two nights in the nearby hilltop town of Groznjan (pronounced Groznyahn). 

Groznjan is small; we slowly strolled a grassy promenade around the entire outside and finished in about 15 minutes. Groznjan is known for art and music. 

We heard some music practice but didn’t make an effort to translate signs to find out when and where to attend a show.

In normal times we could see that Groznjan has a few bars and restaurants.

In these times there were only two that were open. 

Art in Groznjan ranges from low-end items for tourists (keychains, bracelets) to fine art.

But this friendly little kitten is what rated a photo.

The Adriatic is visible from Groznjan.

Photo of Motovun from Groznjan

Groznjan is picturesque but it’s hard to tell if many people live here. 

Aside from being a nice little village, Groznjan is exceptionally convenient for multiple wineries.

Marijan Arman was our favorite of the four we visited over two days.

A couple of the wineries had these beautiful ceramic award plaques.

We enjoyed an evening tipple by the church in Groznjan.

Groznjan sunset

We saw a couple of these “guys” working on either end of a construction zone. 

That’s a motor alongside the mannequin to power the flag arm going up and down. 

We had lovely weather for our walking day in Rovinj. 

Rained again on our travel day from Groznjan to Plitvice National Park but it was dry for our hiking exploration of Plitvice (next blog).