Adventure in Rovinj

Beautiful Rovinj

Day 20 - A long drive and first impressions of Rovinj

After a long drive on the impressive toll freeway, we arrived in a suburban neighborhood just on the outskirts of Rovinj. The toll road was especially impressive with its many tunnels, changing scenery, and weird automated mannequin flagger in a construction zone.

The scenery in the Istrian Penninsula (where Rovinj is located) reminded us a lot of Oregon. Lots of green with impressive valleys. Our apartment was roomy and gave us lots of room to spread out for the next 4 nights.

We trekked to the old town and were impressed with the colorful buildings. The sky was threatening rain but also looked striking at the same time.

We found a nice meaty place for dinner. We started our meal outside but had to move indoors when the rain arrived.

Day 21 - Exploring Rovinj

We started the day with breakfast in the apartment. DD#1 found a weird hot-doggy pastry.

We wandered the old town taking more pictures while heading up to the church that tops the town of Rovinj. Rovinj has definitely been discovered by tourists. We saw so many license plates from Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Germany, and many more. It turns out that the Istrian Penninsula is one of the most popular vacation destinations for many land-locked Europeans looking for a beach fix.

We hiked up to the church and climbed the tower. Big surprise! This tower was particularly challenging due to the narrow and very old woody crickety steps. Of course the views were lovely at the top and we needed another family selfie. I stayed on top of the tower until noon just to hear the loud bells.

Can't you see their enthusiasm about climbing another tower? Haha.

We had a quick snack and DD#2 and I decided to rent bikes and head to a recommended beach on the Golden Horn. This was a pretty peninsula park that was popular with cyclists. The ride was easy and very scenic. We found a great little beach for a swim.

On the way back, I snapped what could be one of my favorite pictures from this trip!

We also found many photo ops of the old town from a different angle.

After a necessary gelato stop, DH and I went for a relaxing walk around the old town. It was fun listening to all the languages being spoken and hearing very little English among them.

We sent the kids an address for dinner and they met us at tasty Dario for dinner. We researched this place on the outskirts of town. We enjoyed local pasta with seafood and grilled squid. A really nice way to end a full day.

Day 22 - Glavani Adventure Park and Pula Arena

We were motivated to get up early today to head somewhere extra unique - Glavani Adventure Park! This park had many challenging ropes courses, zip-lines, and even a human catapult. It was all set over several acres in a remote spot. At first, we were the only ones there. Both girls had such a great time being challenged by clever obstacles. DH and I stayed firmly on the ground taking pictures of our daredevils above.

The human catapult was the highlight of the day for DD#2. She was the only one brave enough to experience 4 Gs and travel around 60MPH. You could hear the wind that she produced. She loved it but I definitely had jitters just watching her.

After this exhilarating and somewhat nerve-wracking morning, we drove about half an hour to the town of Pula. We found a delicious local place for sandwiches. You can tell DD#1 was excited at how good it tasted!

We were powered and ready to explore one of the world's best-preserved ancient amphitheaters. Pula's amphitheater was a work of art and a joy to explore. We climbed on ancient rocks, took way too many pictures, and actually relaxed inside the arena.

Dad photo-bombed this one!

Check out all these ancient olive oil containers that we stacked beneath the arena.

And of course we took a family selfie.

It was hot but we wandered around the old town of Pula mostly so I could see this mini-pantheon.

After such a busy day, we drove back to Rovinj, found some take-out pizza and called it a day.

Day 23 - Instralandia Waterpark and Goodbye to Rovinj

DD#2 and I decided to hit the 3rd best waterpark in Europe. DD#1 was needing a day to herself. DH was kind to drive us 40 minutes to the waterpark and entertain himself while we whirled down some of the most fast and exciting slides ever! We had so much fun and agreed that it was the best waterpark we had ever been to.

DD#1 took a few pictures of her relaxing day around Rovinj.

We took our tired bodies back to Rovinj and had another delicious seafood meal.

Finally, DD#2 and I took one last walk around beautiful Rovinj to get those special sunset pictures that we will never forget.

Goodbye to beautiful Rovinj!