Another moving day....

....this time further down the Isrian Coast to Pula.

Pula is renowned for its protected harbour, beach lined coast and Roman ruins. It was founded in the 10th century and because of its strategic location has been occupied, destroyed and rebuilt many times!

Having arrived around midday we had a quick look around the central area dominated by a market square and the Old Town before driving to our accommodation in Pjescana Uvala a seaside "suburb" where all the roads have Roman names and frankly were not easy for the GPS to gets its mind around - the road we required was II Ogranak, which needed to be distinguished from I, III, IV, V, VI etc. Ogranak.

The accommodation is a very nice apartment with on site swimming pool however the beach is only about five minutes walk away so after unpacking, driving back into Pula (4 kms) and getting some necessaries from the supermarket it was down to the beach - we are enjoying low 30s at the moment - and straight into the briny. I use briny advisedly as the sea water around these parts is very salty and certainly keeps you afloat.

Walking to the beach there was a striking display of vegetation

and the houses on the hills overlooking the sea made a nice sight

Sherry got quite excited when she saw this fine looking gentleman in his budgie smugglers and couldn't resist taking a snap - I have to say he looked quite striking indeed but it is a pity she only snapped the lower half!

Tomorrow we will explore the old town and roman amphitheatre!

 

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A day underground

We left Umag around 8.00am this morning driving to Postojna in Slovenia around 85kms away to tour the Postojnska Jama which are limestone caves approx. 110m below ground. (A UNESCO world heritage site)

In the caves the temperature is a cool 10 degrees and as I had sent all my warm clothing home some days ago I was one of a very few who didn't have a pullover or similar on.

The caves were created by the Pivka River, are 24kms long and were first open to the public in 1819. Today you are taken into the caves by a "train" and once deep inside you tour on foot until joining back up with the train to exit.

With the stalagmites and stalactites of all shapes, sizes and colours everywhere you look the experience is quite simply amazing

There are numerous souvenir shops and restaurants in the complex but it did not detract from the environment - even the food prices were very reasonable

A pleasant drive home, with only a seven minute delay at the Slovenia/Croatia border, completed a very good day out.

It would pay if you have interest to seek out a YouTube video of the caves and get a good appreciation of this unique environment

 

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Oh it is nice to be beside the seaside

Woke to find it had rained overnight - we sure have some luck with rainy weather! We saw rain one afternoon when we were in York for about 20 minutes and every other time it has rained, and that has not been often, it has either been when we were driving or during the night.

View from our hotel room balcony out over the Adriatic

Looked up a map last night and saw that Slovenia goes all the way to the coast and so seperates Croatia from Italy completely so when we return to Italy later this weekend we will need the vignette so that was the first purchase this morning (will need it also if we make our day trip into Slovenia tomorrow).

This morning and early part of the afternoon was spent in and around Umag's old town coupled with a walk around to the marina on the other side of the inner harbour.

The old town, small in size that it might be, has some quite pleasant streets to walk through

The city is very well kept and presented tidily and with some unique aspects such as this window made of block!

One always wonders what the inside of one of these buildings looks like now and I was able to get a photo from ground looking through a high window

If that is any indication they are colourfully decorated.

There is of course the obligatory church with the usual trappings but the style is somewhat different - more simplistic

The marina area on the other side of the harbour gives a lovely view back across to "Centro" as well as out over the Adriatic

Where the hell has Rangitoto gone??

If this was my yacht club I would find another sponsor as www.sinkovic.hr doesn't quite cut it

Our day was rounded off by another swim in front of the hotel which gave a nice relief from the low 30s we have enjoyed today.

 

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Stressful

After a leisurely breakfast and pack we said goodbye to our hosts at Grado and set off for Umag being a coastal city in the Istrian province of Croatia - so our trip today was from Italy through the border into Croatia.

We knew from our last trip that we would have to go through passport control at the Croatian border. On the way we stopped at a petrol station/cafe in Italy and found that most motorists were buying vignettes for Slovenia, a vignette being the sticker you buy and affix to the windscreen that shows you have paid the tax to drive on the roads in the country you are visiting.

As we weren't going into Slovenia (or so we thought) we passed that opportunity up and motored on.

Not too much later we came to signs saying that we were crossing the border into Slovenia - at that point some stress set in as we were not in possession of the required vignette and the penalties for not paying your dues can be relatively steep.

All we could do was motor on and get into Croatia without being picked up for some minor offence and then we came to the border between Slovenia and Croatia manned by the Slovenian gestapo or so they looked and the lines on the forehead increased somewhat. Passed over the passports with a sheepish smile as he stared at the car, made some small talk with Sherry as if we had nothing to fear and held the breathe.

Passports stamped and returned with a comment in his language which I assumed wished us safe travels - foot to floor and we moved forward the 100 metres or so to the Croatian passport control knowing that they would not give a toss whether or not we had paid the Slovenian government their dues. Passports stamped a second time and we moved off having beaten the bastards again.

For the next 5 or so kilometres there was a line of traffic backed up for the border waiting to cross out of Croatia - in some places the line was two lanes wide. How long it was going to take those near the back of queue to get to the border was anyone's guess.

Mr GPS (we changed from Mrs some time ago) didn't have a good day. On two occasions he took us off the motorway and around in circles in the town before we had to negotiate our own way back onto the motorway in the direction we thought we needed to travel - our mantra was keep the ocean on our right!

Coming close to Umag he took us off the motorway again and through some back country roads before depositing us back on the motorway south of Umag.

Finally arrived in town and parked up as it was time for lunch. Having eaten we then walked around the city centre area getting the feel of the place which is built around a harbour with the inevitable stalls selling beach related souvenirs and clothings to the throngs.

Mid afternoon we made our way to our accommodation which is a very nice hotel about 4 kms south of the centre and right on the water, water which invited us in for a swim later in the afternoon.

We will return to the centre for dinner tonight and again tomorrow to have a good look around.

 

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Exercise Day

As if we needed it!

After breakfast we made use of the bicycles provided by the hotel (as do most hotels here in Grado) and went for a two and a half hour ride around Grado, a ride interspersed with a couple of stops.

The first for coffee at a lovely cafe

and later when we ran across the local market

It has been many years, decades even, since we hitched our frames on to a bike seat and it took a while to get some confidence among other cyclists and any vehicles that were coming our way.

It did however allow us to see far more of Grado than we would otherwise see - the lagoons, the canal around the island we are staying on and other areas of town

Having put the bikes away it was then a walk into the centre to find some lunch and then back to the beach for a swim.

I mentioned yesterday the private changing rooms available for hire and today I took a photo.

We estimate the beach to be about 2 kms in length and along that length there are little sheds and umbrellas and loungers in close proximity to each other - imagine this photo repeated for 2 kms and you have the beach at Grado.

As a matter of interest we don't know whether yesterday we received a discount to go on the beach or today we were ripped off - €1 yesterday, €2 today!

A walk to the centre later for dinner will complete our exercise for the day.

 

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Rocks in your head

Well that is what it felt like last night trying to sleep on the piece of concrete that was supplied as a pillow in the hotel - it didn't make for a refreshing sleep that is for sure!

We have now all but completed our trip across the north of Italy as we have arrived in Grado, a resort town on the Adriatic very near to Venice and also to the border with Croatia

It is or appears to be like Venice made up of numerous lagoons but without the canals

The second language here is German as they, the Austrians and Swiss frequent it in big numbers during the summer, I guess as it may be the closest ocean coastline for those folk.

It has the feel of Lapad, the beach area we visited near Dubrovnik a couple of years ago and the city has its old town though unlike Dubrovnik it is not walled

The coastline stretches as far as you can see and not every bit of it is attractive to swim or sunbath but that didn't stop this local

We walked around town for a few hours after we arrived and then headed for a swim - it is the first beach that we have ever swam at where you have to pay to do so, in this case €1 each.

The beach is full of umbrellas and loungers as well as personal changing rooms all available at a cost

The temperature of the water was very warm and it really felt that you were having a warm bath but it was very refreshing if not a little salty.

All that remains today is to find a ristorante that provides a decent meal!

 

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It catches you every time

When you turn on the tap with C on it the water comes out hot not cold as you would expect - hot in Italian is "caldo" while cold is "freddo"!

And talking about hot the headlines on the newspaper billboard in Padua (or Padova if you prefer) were:

Emergency HOT 6 die in 24 hours

Luckily there was some relief from the heat as it only reached 39 at its highest this afternoon - it could have been 40!!

There were two features of our drive today - the A4 and the train crossing.

The A4 is the motorway which runs from Turin to Trieste and is 517kms in length and is one of the most highly trafficked motorways in Italy and today was no exception with trucks galore on the three laned motorway - we take to it again tomorrow as we continue to travel east.

As we came into Padua we stopped at a red light at a railway crossing and we stayed stopped for at least 15 minutes while we and plenty of other vehicles waited while 3 trains went passed.

There are two main attractions in Padua, the Basilica of Saint Anthony and the Prato Della Valle.

The Basilica which is across the road from our hotel is simply stunning.

Externally it has many bits and bobs making up its immense size

while internally there is so much grandeur and colour it leaves you awe struck (unfortunately taking photos is prohibited). Built in the 70 years 1238-1310 it commerates the life of Saint Anthony of Padua who was said to be a great teacher of the faith.

I

It attracts literally millions of pilgrims from across Europe and further afield each year and as a consequence Pope John Paul II in 1993 declared it an International Shrine being only one of nine such shrines in the RC church

The Prato Della Valle at 90000 square metres is said to be the largest square in Europe, even though it is oval not square. Being of that size a photo is impossible but I took the following Video

Late in the afternoon as we were wandering the town random hailstones fell from a thundery sky but the "storm" amounted to nought being all over in 15 minutes without the road actually getting wet

And so another stopover is completed.

 

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It doesn't make a lot of sense...

...in a city with churches galore and where we are dying because of the heat and try and seek out a place to pray for some relief that they are closed between 1pm & 3pm - well that is Piacenza!

The place including most of the churches close in the early afternoon and the central city becomes devoid of most human life other than a few tourists.

We are stopping here overnight, as we are in Padova tomorrow night, as we travel across the top of Italy to get to Istria. Our accomodation is very nice the owners having created a rather elegant and stylish apartment.

The city is tidy, that being a relative statement for cities in Europe, and there are some attractive buildings as well as many of a bygone era

Palazzo Gotico was built in 1281 and is showing signs of old age

Then there was this church which for the life of me I couldn't find its name

nor could I find the name of this one either

However I found the name of this one - Basilica of Sant' Antonino built in the 11th century

The cobbled alleyways, though the locals I guess call them side streets, were quite charming

as were the courtyards behind the large doors at street frontage

As we checked out a few restaurants for dinner we came across one that had both "Donkey stew with polenta" and another item "Raw horse meat" on their menu so not unsurprisingly we gave that restaurant a miss but when we sat down at the restaurant we choose we found it also had a meal item which included horse meat!

 

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