Pazin has been a lovely place to stay these last few days — it’s a fairly sleepy town with I suspect most of the residents having to travel to bigger towns for work. We walked to a bakery this morning, and the streets were essentially empty the entire walk. After a quick chocolate croissant and red velvet muffin, we were off to adventure.
First stop was Pula to see the Roman Amphitheatre. This is considered one of the best preserved amphitheatres, and it is the only one that has it’s full circular shape. So while the Colosseum in Rome is technically bigger, you don’t have all the walls.
Underground we learned about the rich olive oil history which I honestly never knew existed in Croatia. I honestly didn’t appreciate the history of this region much at all — this area from the 800s to the 1700s were essentially under some type of Italian rule, then became French under Napolean, then in the 1800s, it became Austrian. In the early 1900s, almost 50% of the population spoke Italian still. During WWI, when Austria-Hungry fell, they were Italian again. After WWII, they became a part of Yugoslavia, and in the 90s, when Yugoslavia fell, they became what they are today. That is so much change and quite an identity crisis the area must feel even today. The town did feel a bit Italian as we are walking through it, which was interesting.
Anyways — the city is really lovely. We spent a good three hours wandering around seeing the Roman ruins, eating gelato and burek (a filo-esque roll stuffed with cheese). The amphitheatre was really cool to walk around, and then to see from afar right in the center of the old town.
Next we made our way to Dvigrad which is an abandoned medieval town. This is something we’ve never really seen before, so we had to make the journey over and walk through it. This town essentially was abandoned in the 1600s when the plague came through and only three families survived. It is now in ruins, but you could still see how it was once a bustling medieval village.
Last stop for the day was Rovinj — a picturesque seaside town on the aqua Adriatic Sea. We almost stayed here instead of Pazin, and I think it would have been such a nice place to be in the evenings. But it is a cruise ship port, so it would have been miserable during the day. This is another town in the area that flipped back and forth between being Italian, and felt even more like we were wandering an Italian town. So lovely.
Back to Pazin for dinner. There was a brand new place that just opened a couple of weeks ago, that makes fresh pasta, so we had to check it out. Did not disappoint. Spaghetti Carbonara and Tagliatelle with Truffles, plus some delightful warm focaccia.
Tomorrow we check out and head to the next spot. It’s noteworthy to mention that the weather completely shifted on us so far this trip. When we were packing, we were expecting cooler temperatures and rain — so far, we have had no rain and the temps are hitting at least 80s during the day which has made for some pretty toasty hiking. With no shorts or flip flops, we are hoping that as we head a little bit more north into the mountains, we will have some reprieve to this heat. All that to say, you are going to start seeing us wear the same two short sleeve shirts as we do laundry every other day now. We aren’t cut out for it anymore…
