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, we climbed up the bell tower, which I think had one of the scariest staircases I've ever had to climb!  The steps are made from logs, not flat wood or stones, which makes footing slightly precarious; and you can see through the steps down below, so don't wear a dress like I did!  (Or if you do, tell yourself that you'll probably never see those people again. :) )  That said, the climb was worth the view.  The picture speaks for itself!

This is a view from one of the many ports in Rovinj.  Here you can see the church's bell tower standing tall past all of the town's quaint buildings.

Walking through Old Town we also saw a lot of docked boats in the harbor (of course).

We stayed at the Island Hotel Katarina, which is a ferry ride away from the mainland on St. Catherine Island.  There were plenty of walking paths around the hotel and plenty of places to swim.  We quickly found that the water was much saltier than what we're used in the Atlantic Ocean. 

Beaches in Croatia are very rocky (and some of these rocks are sharp), so I highly recommend bringing some sort of water shoes.  Unfortunately for me I didn't know this, so I wasn't equipped with the appropriate footwear.  As such I wasn't in the water very much since the rocks hurt my feet.  But it was so scenic that I didn't mind too much relaxing on the beach instead!

On our second and last night in Rovinj we had dinner at Sidro where we finally discovered that dark beer does exist in Croatia!  With the Mediterranean climate I completely understand the overwhelming popularity of light beers, but it was quite nice to be able to order something different.  Our dinner at Sidro was very good, quite affordable, and we had friendly service.

Rovinj is not a large town, so our one day/two nights stay was the perfect amount of time for us since we like to stay on the move.  But if you're looking for a place to laze about on the beach, amble through some cobblestone streets, and eat copious amounts of seafood and pasta, consider staying longer for a relaxing few days.  You won't regret it!