Sunday 16 September. Today we visit Istria, starting in Pula. Park the car near the Colosseum and visit this Roman Amphitheatre. The surrounding walls are mainly intact. It’s an impressive building. Into town Zerostreet, a complex of tunnels, leads us to the other side of town. Climb the hill to see the castle. Down again for the less impressive Cathedral and some lunch nearby. Walk around the hill and see the Roman Temple of Augustus and the Arch of the Sergians.
The next day a short drive to Rovinj. Narrow streets, a food and souvenir market and nice views. Follow the narrow street uphill. Enjoy the views. Another short drive over small roads to the next town, Porec. The Eufrazijeva Bazilika is one of the oldest Christian churches. This complex was built 3rd century and modified several times. Paintings, carvings and mosaic floors, they are all there. Quite big complex and beautiful. Walk again through narrow streets and take the scenic route to Rijeka. First through the country and then along the coast. From Rijeka it’s the highway to Zagreb. At seven we arrive at the apartment to discover we both thought the other one had booked it. Luckily we find another, even better, apartment nearby.
Tuesday it’s downtown Zagreb. Unbelievably we can park the car in the heart of town, next to Umjetnicki Paviljon. The park is green, full of flowers and well maintained. The Pavilion has a strange silver colored glass roof. Easy to recognize. We walk Trg Josipa Jurja Strossmayera up north and see the nice buildings around it. Mostly Baroc. Stop at the Archeological Museum. Start on the third floor and walk down through history. Prehistory, Egypt, Greece, Roman and modern history. Have a coffee in the garden and see the Dolac Market before we visit the Cathedral, situated next to an old Medieval wall. Walk through little streets and parks. Climb some stairs and find ourselves on the hill at Trg svetog Marka, a church with a remarkable colored roof. See the history of Croatia in a nutshell and again down through Gric Park into downtown. Meander along Muzej Mimara and visit the Technical Museum Nikola Tesla. Lots of technical stuff. A guide tells about mining and shows us how the mines are built underneath the building. Quite cool. Then a demonstration of Tesla’s experiments. A big bang for the lightning experiment.
Varazdin is the next town at the next day. A lovely small town, with lovely streets, churches and a castle. The collection in the castle about the Romantic period. Fun to see. Walk again through old streets and buildings and visit the Galerija starih I novih majstora. Not bad. Even some Dutch old masters as Rubens are displayed. This afternoon we drive through the countryside. Small towns and farmland. Good views and some burning corn fields. Last days we saw some cool cities and beautiful countryside.
