Because of the limited bus schedules we were forced to only stay 2 days in Ljubljana but that means we got 4 days in Rovinj instead of 3. This worked out well. We were anxious to get to the Adriatic Sea after spending a few weeks inland. M thought that this place reminded here of Isle Delfino from Super Mario Sunshine. I think we are going to see lots of places that reminds us of that in the next few weeks. The weather was still on and off here but we got a lot of sun in our 4 days… and also a few short thunderstorms. We stayed in the old town on the peninsula that has no cars… lots of cool alleys…. We were on the top of an ancient building which was a little challenging to climb the narrow steep stairs every day to our AirBNB but it was worth it to be in the old section.
The big attraction in this town in the church in the middle of the carless peninsula. All alleys go up to the church. The statue on top of the tower is actually a wind weather vane. The bronze lady points to the way the wind is going. Don’t have a good pic of that but I do have some good pics of the crazy old stairs to the tower, and the town views from the tower.
My favorite day in Rovinj was bike rental day. I rented a bike and went along the water to see the fancy resorts, camping resorts and swimming holes that were along the coast. I texted M and said she needed to check it out. I was pretty far down the coast but sprinted back to meet M to help her choose her bike at the bike rental shop. We got a couple of miles down the coast and she was happy she was able to see the turquoise swimming waters and rock formations.
Then, M’s chain fell off…. it got stuck really good. I thought I could fix it if I had a wrench so I sprinted back to the bike shop to borrow a wrench to take the wheel off. I zoomed back but couldn’t fix it and I was worn out already. But I needed to get help. I rode back to the bike shop again and got the owner. He wanted me to ride back to M and we could fix it together… I was a little tired but we zipped back to the bike. M in the meantime had locked her broken bike to a tree and found a nice beachside bar to have some wine at. I don’t blame her. The nudist swimmers also love this section of coast and she didn’t care to watch the guy in view of her dead bike. We were able to fix the chain and then our friendly bike repair guy brought it to the bar and found M. I was really worn out from going back and forth and back and forth and my beer tasted really good.
Even though this day was a challenge, it will still be one of our highlights of Rovinj. It really is a great place for biking and I can see us staying in a cheap cabin or camping at the resorts South of town and doing a lot of biking. It really is a beautiful town and a beautiful coast.
One of the other highlights of Rovinj is having a drink at one of the bars on the water. The wind and waves weren’t the best for that but we did have a lot of good meals and drinks just watching the waves crash. In the summer people get served drinks right on these rocks.
We ate a lot of good food here, did some long walks and went to a forgettable old aquarium. Next stop is renting a car and going to Plitvice Jezera national park to go see some waterfalls.