Peter had a mayor's conference in Rijeka, a seaside city in northern Croatia, on the Adriatic Sea. He flew his 15 mayor's to Trieste, Italy then a bus to the the conference site, crossing a bit of Slovenia and into Croatia. It was remarkable to have these mayors attend and see the regional best practices in action. While he attended the workshops, I drove to islands and walked the town of Opatija where in the late 1800s movie stars and people with money built their villas. On the weekend, Peter and I roamed the peninsula of Istria, walking, gawking and eating freshly picked truffles. It is amazing to see so many thriving towns on the top of hillsides, built in the 1400s or 1500s. In addition we visited seaside cities, boats, fishing and again, cobblestone old towns with the classic Byzantine church and clock tower.
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| Fall foliage from the multitude of chestnut trees in every town center |
Enjoy our trip by category.
1. Some of the architecture in opulent Opatija
2. The gracious 100 year old waterfront path for 12 kilometers
3. Women doing or wearing interesting things!
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| Yes, women drivers in the weekend rally |
4. Random windows that I found attractive...
5. Many towns had sculptures or statues
6. On the weekend, Peter and I headed to the peninsula of Istria. Multiple hilltop medieval cities with artsy populations.
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| So this one is obviously not inhabited....! |
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| This marker sets the antiquity of this area, from times before Christ |
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| Right across the street from the old is this new elementary school |
7. FOOD...OMG
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| White truffles only found in September and October with dogs sniffing them out. They lie about 10 inches below the ground. Two pounds of white truffles sell for about $7,500!!! |
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| My dinner one night....homemade pasta with a bit of butter, cream and shaved truffles. Wow. |
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| The wines were pretty special too. |
Food was excellent in Istria. We never had a bad meal but one night made us giggle. It was a seacoast city called Rovinj, a medieval town cascading down the narrow cobblestone streets. We explored a few restaurants that we had researched and settled on a little 6 table place. We were in the mood for something simple but with a culinary twist. There was no room in the dining room but they took us to the "terrace" which translated to an open air, one table for 2, where we could hear the chef singing "Brown Eyed Girl". Our waiter arrived. He was a lanky young lad with bright red dreadlocks pinned up on his head and sticking out in all directions. He smiled and proceeded to list all of the items on the menu they didn't have. We chose from some of the remaining dishes and, with an equally available abbreviated wine list, we went with the house wine. A sweet young girl brought our wine and mentioned that this is her second day on the job and how she is learning so much. I asked our waiter how the pasta with smoked sausage was. He grimaced and said he never eats meat...a real vegan. Why was I not surprised?? Of course I ordered the homemade pasta with shaved white truffles. Delicious. We settled into our meal amid the cleaning supplies while looking up at the shaft of open air and the stars. As we paid our bill we asked the waiter how long into the winter does the restaurant stay open. He replied, "Actually we close tomorrow until next March". We mused that it was a short stint for the wine waitress.
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| The black truffles are less expensive and found from January to August. | Both black and white truffles are a type of mushroom |
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| Very arid climate at the south end of the island of Krk |
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| City of Rovinj...gorgeous |
10. Trip home on Alitalia airlines.........and this departure time was still more than an hour off!
Flying has the advantage in Europe of being short flights to almost anywhere. However, like anywhere, there are some flights that just fall apart. Our trip home was one of them. Luckily, we were still laughing at 2:30 am.
We started our 2 legged journey in Trieste, Italy where a nasty agent was not going to let us fly to Tirana without a visa (which you don't need). The flight to Rome was delayed by 30 minutes so when we arrived in the Rome airport at Gate A, and it was clear we needed to go to Gate H...we sprinted. Like the Newark flights to Burlington that leave at the farthest point from civilization, Albania receives the same service. Forget the bags making it. We just wanted to get home that night. We arrived at Gate H, 10 minutes late, and lo and behold, the passengers were still standing ready to board. Joy to our aching lungs. The gate agent said the plane was delayed by 10 minutes. Well....10 minutes turned into 2 and 1/2 hours. The agents had a shift change, we received, at one point near midnight, sixteen 2 liter bottles of water for our flight and those going to Tunisia at the next gate. No cups, just the first 16 people who elbowed their way into the water station and tried to look very thirsty as they cradled their bottle. At last, 12:30 am, they were ready to board our plane. The first half of the group boarded a bus and rode a good 12 minutes to our plane that was parked in some very distant field. We were in the second batch, waiting at the gate. You might of thought they could have brought 2 buses to the gate. We finally board the returning bus. By now it is 12:30. The gate agent comes onto the bus and calls out 2 passenger names to be accounted for. No one responds. She goes back in the terminal and for another 15 minutes, we stand on the bus, while she searches for the missing 2 people. I am guessing the two gave up long ago and were asleep in a hotel nearby. At 1:00 am we reunited with the other half of the passengers on the plane who were not happy waiting. At least they had seats. Finally, at 1:20, the pilot extended his apologies and he headed the plane toward Tirana. Guess what? Our bags made it to our plane!
Northern Croatia was another very special experience for both of us.
