Tag Archive: Rovinj


Road Trip Through Austria, Slovenia, Italy & Croatia

Filed under: Europe, Travel, travels — Leave a comment
August 18, 2019

We’ve long wanted to visit Slovenia so we drove from Vienna to Ljubljana with a Graz pit stop. Clean and green, plus it’s such a small country offering so much. Lake Bled comes to mind, but Piran stole our hearts. On a Food Trip, we included Trieste, Italy in our itinerary. Yes, that small strip of land off the Adriatic and the Italian border to Slovenia. As home to Illy Coffee, plus the prospect of seafood harvested off the Adriatic and cooked the Italian way, we couldn’t go wrong. Next, the van took us on a road trip visiting the small towns of the Istrian Peninsula. All of these destinations couldn’t have been better. By the time we left Istria and reached Zagreb, we were almost unfamiliar with big city vibes. And Plitvice? That was the highlight of my trip.

Just click on the following titles to the blog links .

From Vienna to Graz, Austria

Clean and Green Ljubljana

A Rainy Day in Lake Bled

Going Italian in Trieste

Driving Back to Slovenia’s Piran

Groznjan’s Art and Culture

More Truffles in Motovun

How Do You Say Rovinj?

Rijeka Off the Adriatic

Opatija’s Classy Vibe

Summery Day in Pula

Finally, Zagreb!

A Near-Miss in Plitvice

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Trip Length: 12 Days

Hotels:

Hotel Galeria

Hotel Coppe

Hotel Jadran

Hotel Dubrovnik

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How To Say Rovinj?

Filed under: Europe, Travel, travels — 2 Comments
August 13, 2019

It’s that seaside resort town in the Istrian Peninsula. Rovinj. The Italians say “Rovigno” (ro-veen-yo) but in Istria, it is pronounced as ro-veen. Having settled that, may I say that Rovinj feels very, very Italian. The harbor, the fruit market, the laundry hanging outside the residential buildings, the cobblestoned lanes, the narrow alleys straight into the blue waters of the Adriatic Sea. The Italians — particularly the Venetians — do have a flair for romance and sentimentality, and that’s what we found here. Even the colourful laundry hanging on clothesline has a certain charm to it.

Dominating the skyline is the Church of Saint Euphemia, shimmering against the pale limestone buildings crowding this part of the Istrian Peninsula. The uphill zigzag climb proved to be a struggle and we lost energy midway. Must be the heat and glaring sun this time of the day. We can only look with envy at locals and guests donned in swimwear, ready to sail in the many yachts and speedboats at the marina. There are options to visit nearby islands but we skipped that, eager to reach our next destination: our hotel for the next 2 nights. You can say we felt sapped, so we traced back our steps through the maze and labyrinth of cobblestoned alleyways.

The fruit market was no different from the other Istrian food markets. But the cheese stands casually placed at doorways I found quite charming. The town square was also filled with souvenir shops and stalls selling lavender sachets and yes, more truffle goodies. They must be making brisk business as we spotted a cruise ship from where some 2,000-3,000 passengers must have been offloaded for a few hours to enjoy the Old Town. More peeps to add to the shine on cobblestones owing to centuries of footfalls.

Rovinj can easily be anyone’s favorite but I worry over tourist arrivals from cruise ships. I sure hope such groups don’t crowd out the town to a point where it’s no longer relaxing to visit. And then there is the ferry crowd from Venice. Takes only 3-4 hours or one can rent a car and drive for 3 hours, with option to drop by Trieste, another interesting town in Italy. Unlike Groznjan and Motovun, Rovinj is more crowded though still “manageable” and certainly not in the same league as touristy Venice or Dubrovnik which look bursting at the seams. More like Ljubljana which has a decent tourist crowd but NOT to a level where one feels unsafe and suffocated by the crowd. Like many touristy sites, Rovinj must be more pleasant in the evenings when the crowd of noisy tourists wielding selfie sticks have gone back to their boats or sailed back or driven back to wherever they’re staying for the night. Just saying.

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