More photos from Pula, Croatia

Pula, Croatia

For our latest European trip, we decided to go to Pula in Croatia - a combination of finding the cheapest place we could fly to, that wasn't on the Euro, and with the hope of some warm sunny weather - Croatia ticked all these boxes!

We arrived in Pula on Tuesday afternoon, and even though the weather wasn't as nice as we had hoped, we set off to explore the town. We were staying right next to the Roman ampitheatre (literally right next door) , with a view of this and a constant stream of tourists from our deck. We walked into the old part of the town, to see the Roman remains, including a "triumphal arch", built in the first century BC, and the Temple of Augustus (1st century AD) the looks over a large paved square. The old part of the town was very picturesque, with winding walkways with cobbled streets and pretty buildings.

Then we walked up to the Venetian fortress, which had great views over the city. After all this walking it was time for a some dinner at our apartment and a rest..after dinner we walked along the waterfront, looking at some of the beautiful old buildings and the amazingly calm water.

On Wednesday we visited the markets, which had a covered part selling meat and fish and an outdoor part with loads of fruit and flower stalls. and tasty looking cheeses and olive oils. After stocking up on fruit, we headed to the bus station to attempt to catch a bus inland to a village called Vodnjan. Not being able to understand the timetable didn't help, and watching other people being yelled at for asking the wrong question at the wrong counter made us a bit wary - but eventually we got on a bus with all the locals, who looked at these tourists like they were a little crazy..maybe we were.

We made it to Vodnjan, only to find the main attraction - a church containing "an unusual collection of mummified saints" (so the guidebook said) was closed. So we peered through the door and walked around the town instead. We felt like we were really off the tourist track, walking through the tiny deserted streets in the little town. We then waited at an unmarked bus stop, that had no timetable on show, not knowing when the bus was due, while locals gave us funny looks - but we had the last laugh, because eventually the bus came! And we made it safely back to Pula - phew.

Back in Pula, we went to visit our neighbour, the Roman ampitheatre "designed to host gladiator fights and able to hold 22,000 spectators" (guidebook again), it is the sixth-largest building of its type in the world. It was very impressive, still in quite good condition, and we stood in the arena and sat in the seats and imagined being there for a gladiator fight. We also went into the underground halls where there were used to be entrances into the arena.

Then it was time to sample some local cuisine at a restaurant in the old town, where we feasted on beautiful (and cheap!) pizza and meat, with pancakes for dessert..mmmm...

On Thursday we set off on a walk to the beach, about 3km out of the city centre, where the big hotels are. The water was beautiful, sparkling blue and so clear. We walked around the coastline from one cove the next, investigating rockpools (which didn't have much life in them) as we went. As we walked back from the beach we stumbled upon a military graveyard with very large, elaborate headstones.

On Friday we caught a boat to Brijuni National Park, made up of 14 islands, the largest of which is open to the public. Brijuni was the summer residence of President Tito (Yugoslav president 1949-1979) where he entertained many world leaders. We went on a guided tour, first we visited a museum which has a large collection of stuffed animals, all the animals the Tito was given as presents from other countries, including giraffes, bears, a kangaroo, monkeys, lions, tigers - he was given some pretty amazing presents! Upstairs there was a photo exhibit, with photos of all the world leaders and celebrities that stayed with Tito on the island - Queen Victoria, Elizabeth Taylor, Ghandi and lots of others. Then we rode around the island, through the 'green' golf course (not watered in summer, and 'mown' by deer), and on to the safari park, which included zebras, a lonely llama that lived with lots of zebras, two elephants, a few humungous cows (that refused to stand up), antelope, and some goats and donkeys for good measure.

We were also able to wander around the island, and view the roman ruins (the romans used to summer there as well) and see the oldest olive tree in Croatia (many hundreds of years old). We were sad to leave Brijuni, it was a very beautiful, peaceful place. We had the fun of some very drunk, merry Croatians on the boat, singing at the top of their lungs - if only we could have understood what they were singing about.

And that was the end of our time in Croatia - but with just enough time for some more local cuisine - another dinner of huge, tasty pizza and beautiful pasta, and some more pancakes for dessert..mmmm...