Rovinj report
Jul 3rd, 2006, 11:52 AM
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Rovinj report
We have arrived in Rovinj. The approach to this town is pretty ugly, but the town itself is very scenic, and very old. The signs coming in are horrrible. Isteria is not as beautiful as the rest of Croatia, so it can be a let down if you are not ready for the change. We are staying at Hotel Adriatic right on the harbor, excellent location. Rooms are very drab, but great a/c, and beds are very comfortable, best so far. TV did not work, but they replaced it today! Parking is a real problem here, but we were so fortunate to find a free spot close yesterday and today, the only one available, both days!!
We had a fantastic dinner last night up by the cathedral, at Monte. Best meal of our trip.
Today we drove to Pula first. Go early, the road in is one lane and backs up terribly. The amphitheatre is wonderful, do not miss the lower level museum. The arch. museum close by is also excellent.
We moved on to the hill towns of Motovun and Groynjan. Motovun was the better of the two, and we enjoyed a lazy lunch under large trees in the square at the top of the village. Groznjan has art shops and we approached on a gravel road. Do not take this road, there is a paved road further on.
Then to Piran, Slovenia. It is a very pretty town on the sea. Slovenia seemed more polished than Rovinj does. Really nice place, easy border crossing. <no good beach here, rocks with ladders into the sea. The promenade is fun to walk around, the sea facing <italy was really rough.
Easy drive back to Rovinj.
Gas stations are few here, with long lines. We were told this is because it is <july, lots of vacationers. I think it is because there are so few gas stations.
Tomorrow we return the car to Porec, with really poor public bus schedule back to Rovinj. It is not easy to do. There are to few rental locations in Croatia. We will go to the Red Beach?? tomorrow, or the other island.
Next day, we take the 5:45 a.m. bus from Rovinj to Venice, arriving at 10:15 a.m.
This is probably the end of my reports for now. Weather has cooled, so nice, not humid now, but to go up to 40 on Friday.
Syl, yes, late Sept. seems to still be good swimming weather. Have a ball, we have.
Until later...
We had a fantastic dinner last night up by the cathedral, at Monte. Best meal of our trip.
Today we drove to Pula first. Go early, the road in is one lane and backs up terribly. The amphitheatre is wonderful, do not miss the lower level museum. The arch. museum close by is also excellent.
We moved on to the hill towns of Motovun and Groynjan. Motovun was the better of the two, and we enjoyed a lazy lunch under large trees in the square at the top of the village. Groznjan has art shops and we approached on a gravel road. Do not take this road, there is a paved road further on.
Then to Piran, Slovenia. It is a very pretty town on the sea. Slovenia seemed more polished than Rovinj does. Really nice place, easy border crossing. <no good beach here, rocks with ladders into the sea. The promenade is fun to walk around, the sea facing <italy was really rough.
Easy drive back to Rovinj.
Gas stations are few here, with long lines. We were told this is because it is <july, lots of vacationers. I think it is because there are so few gas stations.
Tomorrow we return the car to Porec, with really poor public bus schedule back to Rovinj. It is not easy to do. There are to few rental locations in Croatia. We will go to the Red Beach?? tomorrow, or the other island.
Next day, we take the 5:45 a.m. bus from Rovinj to Venice, arriving at 10:15 a.m.
This is probably the end of my reports for now. Weather has cooled, so nice, not humid now, but to go up to 40 on Friday.
Syl, yes, late Sept. seems to still be good swimming weather. Have a ball, we have.
Until later...
Jul 3rd, 2006, 12:52 PM
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I cannot believe how quick this trip seems to have gone! Thanks for all your wonderful posts sharing the journey as you went along, and have a safe and enjoyable rest of the trip. Now you are a Croatia expert, too, for all the rest of us that are following. I think I am really sorry I am not getting anywhere near Plitvice though...
Jul 4th, 2006, 01:08 PM
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Hi Images,
I'm confused about your feeling about Rovinj.We're coming to Istria after Ljubljana & Bled area, sleeping 2 nights in Piran. We want to see Motovun & other towns. Should we then sleep over in Rovinj the following night before moving on to Plitvice or is Rovinj a replica of Piran? Thanks for your help.
I'm confused about your feeling about Rovinj.We're coming to Istria after Ljubljana & Bled area, sleeping 2 nights in Piran. We want to see Motovun & other towns. Should we then sleep over in Rovinj the following night before moving on to Plitvice or is Rovinj a replica of Piran? Thanks for your help.
Jul 4th, 2006, 09:52 PM
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We did a quick getaway last week and I have to say that I don't really agree with Images2. I think that Istria is very beautiful and prefer it over areas like Split and Trogir...Dalmatia is a bit of a different story.
We toured through Rovinj and enjoyed it. This area was heavily influenced by the Italians (obviously
) and the towns reflect that heritage, moreso than the rest of Croatia. We walked several hours through Rovinj, through some incredible heat but the views and the town and the people were wonderful. We drove back to our fabulous little tourist settlement via the Limski Fjord which is supposed to be the largest fjord outside of Scandinavia. All I can say is hee hee hee. It wasn't particularly worthwhile but we had a nice lunch there and lots of time so oh well...
We really liked Porec (even better than Rovinj). We found it less touristy, very Venetian in feel and very clean. I think it is definitely worth seeing.
Our hotel/apartment, the Tourist Settlement Belvedere, was outstanding. We stayed in the little village of Vrsar, which is about 8 kms N of Rovinj and 8 km S of Porec. Our apartment had just been renovated to an extremely high standard and was pristine. Website is http://www.anita.hr/belvedere.php?lang=en For 83 Euros/night (if one stayed at least 3 nights) we had a 4 star place with superb service. There was a nice pool, but even better, we were 10 meters from the Adriatic. Like most of the coast, the 'beach' is rock but in front of the hotel it is blocked over, making swimming easy. The salt content is high which is perfect for lazy floats and it is a blue flag beach. I would go back here in a heartbeat. If you are traveling with children or dogs, it can't be beat.
The service throughout Istria was perfect. And that was surprising!!
Our meals were only so so, though the clams buzzara were consistently excellent. The wine, Malvazija, which seems to be the house wine, swung wildly in quality. In one esp. touristy restaurant it was undrinkable but in the little bar atop of Vrsar (that we visited each evening), it was excellent. Belije Pinot was also good.
We toured through Rovinj and enjoyed it. This area was heavily influenced by the Italians (obviously
) and the towns reflect that heritage, moreso than the rest of Croatia. We walked several hours through Rovinj, through some incredible heat but the views and the town and the people were wonderful. We drove back to our fabulous little tourist settlement via the Limski Fjord which is supposed to be the largest fjord outside of Scandinavia. All I can say is hee hee hee. It wasn't particularly worthwhile but we had a nice lunch there and lots of time so oh well...We really liked Porec (even better than Rovinj). We found it less touristy, very Venetian in feel and very clean. I think it is definitely worth seeing.
Our hotel/apartment, the Tourist Settlement Belvedere, was outstanding. We stayed in the little village of Vrsar, which is about 8 kms N of Rovinj and 8 km S of Porec. Our apartment had just been renovated to an extremely high standard and was pristine. Website is http://www.anita.hr/belvedere.php?lang=en For 83 Euros/night (if one stayed at least 3 nights) we had a 4 star place with superb service. There was a nice pool, but even better, we were 10 meters from the Adriatic. Like most of the coast, the 'beach' is rock but in front of the hotel it is blocked over, making swimming easy. The salt content is high which is perfect for lazy floats and it is a blue flag beach. I would go back here in a heartbeat. If you are traveling with children or dogs, it can't be beat.
The service throughout Istria was perfect. And that was surprising!!
Our meals were only so so, though the clams buzzara were consistently excellent. The wine, Malvazija, which seems to be the house wine, swung wildly in quality. In one esp. touristy restaurant it was undrinkable but in the little bar atop of Vrsar (that we visited each evening), it was excellent. Belije Pinot was also good.
Jul 5th, 2006, 03:03 AM
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A question to the the contributors to this thread who have been in several towns on the western coast of Istria, where do you recommend we stay for a couple of nights - Piran, Porec, or Rovinj????
We'll be there in early October.
We'll be there in early October.
Jul 5th, 2006, 04:05 AM
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Hi
We stayed in both Poruc and Rovinj several years ago. We then drove to Trogir, but realized we preferred Istria. We thought Istria was much nicer than Trogir and less crowded.
We also visited Piran and stayed a couple of days. Very Italian in feel.
We stayed in both Poruc and Rovinj several years ago. We then drove to Trogir, but realized we preferred Istria. We thought Istria was much nicer than Trogir and less crowded.
We also visited Piran and stayed a couple of days. Very Italian in feel.
Jul 7th, 2006, 09:45 AM
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We have returned home now, so I'll try and give you our opinion on Isteria. I just reread what I wrote while we were in Rovinj, and I stand by it. We approached Rovinj from the North and the outskirts were really ugly. Remember, we spent 2 weeks in absoulute beauty, and Isteria just seemed not to match the beauty of the rest of Croatia. Rovinj's old town is really great, but was the hardest old city to walk in. The streets are steep and the stones are very, very slippery. Wear shoes with very good tread on the soles or you may fall! We slipped a few times, but never fell. One woman did coming down the steps from the cathedral, scarry. Having wine in the evenings, along the stone walls, overlooking the sea is very nice. Don't miss walking out to the lighthouse and watching the kids playing in the sea off the rocks. It's a nice area, but out of the way and easy to miss.
Parts of Isteria have low, scubby trees, but other parts have more lush greenery. It just depends where you are. The islands off Rovinj, Crveni otok, or Red island and the connecting Maskin island were crowded with people and while okay, we were very disappointed with them after our experiences with the other islands we had spent our days at. There was very little shade, and finding a quite spot alone, wasn't to easy. It was nowhere close to being as nice, scrubby trees on these islands, not the large pine forested areas of the islands around Brac, Hvar and Dubrovnik.
We ate a second time at Monte. If you want very good food, (we loved the fish) great service and a very lovely setting, this will not disappoint.
Hotel Adriatic packed us a wonderfully large breakfast bag to take with us the early morning we left for the bus trip from Rovinj to Venice. The trip was very easy and the bus stopped many times for bathroom/snack breaks. It took 4 1/2 hours. Kompas travel office also operated a catamaran, Prince of Venice from Porec and had spots where we could have booked their bus from Rovinj to Porec and connected to the catamaran as a one way transfer for about $45 or $50USD but we thought the bus was actually easier and arrived at about the same time, 10:30 am.
Returning the Alamo rental car in Porec was really a hard thing to do. The rental office is actually a rented garage on a street of apartments. I'm going to post a rental car report and explain our experience. We had no time to see old town Porec.
I'm glad to see others liked Isteria more than we did. Inland areas seemed prettier than coastal areas. It's good to hear different opinions, but when we return to Croatia, we'll spend our time south of here.
Parts of Isteria have low, scubby trees, but other parts have more lush greenery. It just depends where you are. The islands off Rovinj, Crveni otok, or Red island and the connecting Maskin island were crowded with people and while okay, we were very disappointed with them after our experiences with the other islands we had spent our days at. There was very little shade, and finding a quite spot alone, wasn't to easy. It was nowhere close to being as nice, scrubby trees on these islands, not the large pine forested areas of the islands around Brac, Hvar and Dubrovnik.
We ate a second time at Monte. If you want very good food, (we loved the fish) great service and a very lovely setting, this will not disappoint.
Hotel Adriatic packed us a wonderfully large breakfast bag to take with us the early morning we left for the bus trip from Rovinj to Venice. The trip was very easy and the bus stopped many times for bathroom/snack breaks. It took 4 1/2 hours. Kompas travel office also operated a catamaran, Prince of Venice from Porec and had spots where we could have booked their bus from Rovinj to Porec and connected to the catamaran as a one way transfer for about $45 or $50USD but we thought the bus was actually easier and arrived at about the same time, 10:30 am.
Returning the Alamo rental car in Porec was really a hard thing to do. The rental office is actually a rented garage on a street of apartments. I'm going to post a rental car report and explain our experience. We had no time to see old town Porec.
I'm glad to see others liked Isteria more than we did. Inland areas seemed prettier than coastal areas. It's good to hear different opinions, but when we return to Croatia, we'll spend our time south of here.
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