Pula – Roman Splendour

Thankfully there was no repeat of the strange beeping noise last night disturbing us. It did start in the early hours but didn`t keep us awake and didn`t seem to last long, or maybe I just fell back to sleep again.

We left Rovinj and after a quick supermarket shop we headed south for about 40 minutes to the very tip of the Istria peninsular and the port town of Pula.

Pula is mostly the commercial and administrative district for Istria but it does have a couple of ancient Roman remains I wanted to see including the sixth largest Amphitheatre Arena. It is quite a spectacle and must have made a huge impact on the town when it was constructed.

We stopped for a drink in a café on the hill within touching distance of the giagantic stones that made up it`s construction and it was staggering how these were quarried, transported, sculpted by hand to exact measurements and lifted, again mostly by just muscle power and used in construction that has lasted all these century`s for tourists like us to gawp at and wonder at the skills of these people.

Other notable Roman sites are the Zlatna Vrata gate and the Forum in the town square.

After that, Pula is not a particularly attractive town in the way Rovinj is and nor does it have much else to keep us entertained. There was a busy fruit and veg market, sadly the fish market seemed to be closed, or more likely, we were too late !

There was the offer of a boat trip around the Brijuni Nature Reserve islands off the coast of Pula and to see the Summer Palace of Josip Broz Tito, better known just as Tito, the Yugoslav Communist Revolutionary leader.

Sue has a dodgy stomach at the moment so this offer was declined.

So after some lunch we set off for about an hours drive north up the other Istria coast to the tiny village of Sveta Marina (GPS 45.03338 14.158)
It`s quite off the beaten track and I was dreading having to drive all the way back if I didn`t like the look of it, but it is quite an amazing campsite, a real gem !

The campsite occupies a tiny spit of land jutting out into the Adriatic Sea and at the headland it has the most amazing sun terrace, café bar and infinity pool overlooking the azure blue sea. See photos. I`ve never been on a site with an infinity pool before !

If I`d known it was going to be this nice we`d have planned to stay longer, we still could I suppose ? We`ll decide tomorrow.

The plan for tomorrow is to call at a town called Opatija on the way to the Plitvice Lakes National Park to see the famous lakes and waterfalls that cascade down through the different levels.

We`ll probably go into the park on Monday when it should be quieter than on a Sunday.

So we`ll stay there one or two nights.

That`s the plan but as ever, things may change.

 Pula Amphitheatre Arena

Pula Amphitheatre Arena

Pula Amphitheatre Arena

Pula Amphitheatre Arena

Pula Amphitheatre Arena

Pula Amphitheatre Arena

Pula Amphitheatre Arena

Pula Forum

Pula Forum

Zlatna Vrata gate

Pula street market

Campsite views

Campsite sun terrace

Campsite infinity pool

Ed parked in front of the Arena Pula

Campsite parking spot