I have been Googling Rovinj and surrounds while reading this …looks very charming and 2 weeks sounds a nice long slow break.

Wednesday was chilly and rainy. Having decided against Bale (which I do now regret!) I decided it would be a good idea to revisit Porec as I had not had much time to explore the town itself on my previous visit. The bus was late today, so allowed even less time in Porec. The journey was also marred by the presence of an exceptionally annoying and very loud woman, regrettably British, who spent the journey buttonholing some unfortunate Americans about how great she thought Nigel Farage was.

By the time we got to Porec the rain had stopped, thankfully. I hunted out the local museum, but it was another rather disappointing place with not a lot on show. Museums are not generally a strength of Istria. Then there was time for a short stroll around the pretty old town and lunch before returning to Rovinj.

It was a particularly dreadful scrum in the restaurant and I actually suffered a panic attack.

The last two days to go, and here I was a bit more adventurous.

Thursday was dry but cool, warming up during the day – quite nice in the end. One of the places I had wistfully looked at while planning my trip, but could not get to by public transport, was the Morosini-Grimani castle in Svetvincenet. I hadn’t spent much on sightseeing, so decided why not push the boat out and go there by taxi. I negotiated terms with one of the taxis at the rank by the bus station, and arranged for the driver to collect me later. It was a bit more expensive than I expected, but I don’t regret it! It would be better value for money for a couple but still quite pricy.

The castle was beautifully restored a few years ago, and is a gorgeous example of a Renaissance castle, having been rebuilt in 1595 when an earlier castle burned down. Sadly none of the original furnishings remain, but there was a collection of arms. There was an outstanding audiovisual presentation with lots of well researched and engaging interactive segments – it would be fabulous to visit with children, and I enjoyed it a lot myself. They do a lot of special events there, such as medieval re enactments, and there was a cheese festival the following weekend.

I had lunch in a little pizzeria, which looked distinctly unsalubrious outside, but was actually very cosy inside, and the food was good and reasonably priced. Then I wandered around the quiet little village, where there were a number of lovely old houses, some in dire need of restoration, but it was all very charming. One of the old churches had some lovely medieval frescoes.

My taxi came to collect me bang on time which was a relief! Overall, a lovely day out – I do like a good castle - although it would be a lot easier and cheaper if you had a car. There is a bus but not from Rovinj - I don't know where it was from actually.

My last full day I had saved for Pazin. It took a bt of digging around to find the times, and initially I had thought the only bus was at 7 am on Thursday, which would have meant getting the 6 am ferry, and I just couldn’t face it. Luckily, on checking the schedules again, I had found that on Friday there was a 9.15 bus which went on a longer route via Pula, so I booked that. It was a long journey, not getting there until 11, but again, I felt it was worth it for me.

Pazin is famous for its gorge, and for the castle which figures largely in Jules Verne’s lesser known novel Matthias Sandorf. I had read this on my kindle earlier in the trip, as a section also takes place in Rovinj, and another in the Lim Fjord, and I can recommend it as a highly entertaining read (potentially slightly racist towards North African Arabs in places – definitely of its time). The castle was easy to walk to from the bus station. The town itself was a pleasant place. It felt a little grittier than the coast, much more as though it had a real life of its own outside serving tourists, but with a much nicer feel than Pula.

The castle was not as pretty as yesterday’s, more of a grim fortress, which I expected, but it was well restored and contained an excellent and varied museum collection. I thoroughly enjoyed looking round it. You can see the gorge there, and to be honest it doesn’t look that spectacular, but you can do caving type trips if you like that sort of thing.

I had lunch, not a great success, and an ice cream at another café next to the local cat rescue (with cute kittens in the window). Then it was back to the bus station for the 3.30 back to Rovinj. It was a quicker return journey, I was back in town in an hour, and had time for a last gelato before catching the 5.30 ferry.

It was a fairly early start to my return journey with the 7 am ferry, but the hotel prepared a generous breakfast bag for those leaving before the restaurant opened, including a sandwich which served as lunch on the plane home.

An unexpected bonus from travelling late in the season was that I ended up with a row of three seats all to myself on this flight :) It was less fun to get back to Gatwick to find the trains had al been cancelled :(

Final thoughts: a lovely area, but not as pretty as its former Yugoslav stablemate Slovenia; super clean; super safe; lovely people; limited public transport; limited museums but a few fantastic sites to visit; pretty good food options. The weather was disappointing; perhaps I should have gone a bit earlier.

What an unexpectedly wonderful report, and you deserve so much credit for soldiering on despite iffy weather, missed connections and not feeling well at times!!!

No wonder this report is topping the forums and has been for a few days!!!!

I've been to former Yugoslavia only once, when it was known as exactly that........you've put the bug into me to explore a possible trip. But oh, boy, that weather in what you would have thought would be the ideal time to visit. And I am also a rabid swimmer so Ii commend you for not getting too bent out off shape (as I would have been) when the swimming was not ideal........

So where next?????

I think you've been to Slovenia...would you recommend that nation, for people not so interested in wine but who could rent a car (??)
(We/I have made many trips to Italy but far more to the south..never been to Dolomites, Trieste, Veneto, Friuli etc.....)

Great TR! Thanks very much! Gives me food for thought for my next trip.

Glad people are enjoying it!

Yes, Slovenia is really beautiful, with loads to see. I divided my time there between staying at Lake Bled (gorgeous) and Lake Bohinj (very pretty), with various trips out, and with a car you could fit in the mountain areas easily.