Rovinj Off The Beaten Path

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Some of the streets in the old core of the town are so narrow, if you spread both of your hands you can touch the opposite walls. All you need to hope, when entering into it, that somebody isn't coming from the opposite direction.

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Must be very complicated moving mobiles in and out under such an short and not high passage. There are a number of such an short and small passages in the old core of the town. That makes the special charm of this place.

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This is the same spot as the previous photo but reversing at the other side on the top of the street where the Cathedral is situated.
In spite of the stone made houses and the walls aroud it, there are many gardens with lots of flowers and trees in it.

Ova skalinada je savršeno mjesto za ljetni nocni party, nalazi se na krajnjoj istocnoj strani poluotoka tik uz more, što pretpostavlja da u vecernjim satima blagi povjetarac ugodno rashladjuje.
Dobro društvo, ugodna muzika i hladno pivo, tko da poželi više od toga. Ah da, još i jedan komad pride (ovo komad možeš shvatiti u oba roda).

Most of the streets in the old core of the town are short and very narrow, it is the way to be protected from the strong wind, called Bura, and the summer heat.
Besides, it is a very practicle way to dry the loundry. You may like it or not but it gives a very pitoresque look of the town, which is very characteristic in whole Mediterranean area.

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According to the Lonely planet, the Limska Draga Fjord is the most dramatic sight in Istria. This is a bit of an exaggeration I think and there are several other places I would award this title to. In some sources it's described as the Limska Kanal and this is a more realistic description. A relic of the last ice-age, the inlet is about 9km long and 60m wide. Turning in from the sea it has little appearance of a fjord but as you move further in the cliiffs do become higher and more dramatic. Cruising along here in 20 degree Autumn sunshine is idyllic but if you're expecting a Norwegian-style fjord ( like a small optimistic part of me was) then you'll be a little disappointed. It's more like cruising up a river valley with high wooded escarpments on both sides. For some reason the Hudson River and the Danube kept coming to mind. The head of the fjord looks distinctly Canadian or Upper NY State, but what should have been peace, perfect peace was shattered by the roar of souped-up hotrods and the blare of their radios. We had a beer on the terrace of one of the restaurants and anticipated the journey back to Rovinj with pleasure.

This trip, which lasted four hours, cost just EUR15 each and included free grappa, wine, water or orange juice.These liquid refreshments were served by a very entertaining Croatian who assured us he'd made them all himself. This guy was layng it on with a trowel for the tourists and us tourists, assisted no doubt by the free drink, were lapping it up. I sampled the wine and found it more like cider than any wine I was aware of. But the sun was shining and everyone was having a good time so I had one or two more ....... A great afternoon.

Actually in Slovenia but offered as a day trip from Rovinj (and many other resorts).

This is one of the best tourist caves anywhere, a lengthy trip starting with an electric train ride into the cave and plenty of variety inside.

The bad news is that it's a long journey from Rovinj and the coach trips all seem to include a visit to the Lipica horse stud. I'm sure horsey types get very excited to see a horse standing on its hind legs and walking backwards but for normal people this is a complete waste of time. I guess they are trying to increase the interest of the trip and justify the legthy journey but I'd have preferred a visit to Predjama Castle instead.

The Speleo adventure is an approx 5 hour caving experience but the focus is on vertical rope techniques (abseil with mechanical descendeur and climb with mechanical prusik devices). Fine if you want to learn those techniques but most of the the underground trip is taken up with the vertical descents/ascents. The cave visited is rather uninspiring and won't spark an interest in going caving in future.

You may be better to visit the Baredine tourist cave instead.