LONG side trip today to Vrsar, a vowel-challenged town north of Rovinj on the coast. An interesting thing about this side of the Istria is that every town has 2 names: one Croatian, one Italian. This entire area was under Venetian rule at one time.
Found great parking right on the top of the town, which turned out to be reserved for residents. Had to drive to the marina to park, stopped at a marina restaurant for a couple of Coke Zeros with ice. Jane went to use the bathroom, and there was no toilet paper. She went and told the woman behind the bar who said, "OK." Jane stared her down until she handed her a couple of napkins. After our Cokes, our very nice, cute and chatty waiter brought us complimentary pear Schnaaps.
We walked up the hill to the town. There is a castle, but people live in it, so you can't go in. There was a nice church (St. Martin) with a tower, which, of course, we climbed. Walked through the town and saw two men selling olive oil and schnapps. Jane bought olive oil for Marky-Pig from two brothers on a corner just below the church. While we were walking, we saw a sign with a misplaced apostrophe. Jane stopped to remove it. "Jane Calhoun, Grammar Patrol."*
Went back to the marina restaurant for a very good veggie pizza, diet cokkes and MORE complimentary pear Schnaaps. Sadly forgot to take a picture till it was gone. Our waiter was a big fan of both Clinton and Obama, so we got along great, but he wouldn't validate our parking ticket. Still, we had a lovely time with him and decided our new motto was, "Jane and Suzanne: Charming Croatian Men Since Thursday." Parking: 24 Korndogs. Pizza and sodas: 75 Korndogs.
Drove on to Porec, the next town North of Vrsar. Parked for free next to a farm market, but the vendors were so aggressive we couldn't get away fast enough. Too bad - there were many things to be interested in, but you couldn't look at anything without being pummeled by the sellers!
The main draw of Porec is the Basilica of St. Euphrasius. The basilica 6th century Byzantine church. It was built for bishop Euphrasius between 539 and 553. It was built by enlarging the existing St Maurus martyr, which had been on the sight since the 4th century. Some of the original floor mosaics still survive. The basilica was added to the UNESCO world heritage list in 1997. We toured the basilica, which included a bell tower, our third tower climb in 2 days. The floor mosaics were fantastic. It was a very nice self-guided tour and well worth the drive.
There is a picture of a well that was within the old Basilica - we took the picture because we couldn't see to the bottom of the well (and Muley was not with us to reach in), and we were dying to know if people were throwing money down there.
Walked back through the town and had some gelato. Jane bought a sausage for Mark. Left Porec and on the drive back, along the Limn Canal we stopped at a panoramic overlook and climbed a small tower (now making it 3.5 towers in 2 days.) Bought olive oil infused with garlic and rosemary for Mark and tried 9 cheese and bought a goat Pag cheese and some really freshly dried figs - they were practically a cross between fresh and dried. Later we filled a plastic glove with them and Suzanne gave them to Ray and Jan when she got home as "figs from the five finger region."
Went back to camp, made no stops, changed into bathing suities and grabbed our chairs and our books and went to swim and read. NO DRINKING. Enjoyed the beach until nearly dark.
For dinner we had 2 kinds of cheese, salad from a jar, olive spread, olives, fig jam, toast, chutney, crackers. Made toast whie we boiled eggs for morning. The weather was predicting rain so we rearranged and packed everything but the tent and sleeping bags. Got into our jim-jams and tucked ourselves in and started watching The Girl Who Played with Fire. Had trouble sleeping because the neighbor with the early-rising children was snoring so loudly.
*Vice-Versa
No comments:
Post a Comment