Adriatic Adventure: Rovinj, Croatia
After stopping by Croatia's wine region in Istria , we drove to the coastal town of Rovinj, which is also in Istria. According to Rick Steves , while Rovinj was prosperous in the Middle Ages, it also flourished in the 16th and 17th centuries when refugees flooded the city from the Ottoman invasions and the plague. Since Rovinj was part of the Republic of Venice from the 13th to 18th centuries, a lot of its architecture, culture, and language are reminiscent of Venice. (We did notice that there were a lot of Italian tourists in Rovinj and, as such, we heard a lot of Italian spoken around us.) Napoleon eventually seized the region, but after his defeat it became part of Austria. The Austrians brought railroads, gas lights, and a big tobacco factory. Luckily for Rovinj, the Habsburgs used other cities as major ports, which allowed Rovinj to keep its quaintness. During our relaxing stay in Rovinj, we visited the Church of St. Euphemia . Once there...