| There are few more pleasant towns in Istria than ROVINJ , which lies
forty kilometres north of Pula. Its harbour is a likeable mix of fishing
boats and swanky yachts, its quaysides a blend of sunshaded café-tables
and the thick orange of fishermen's nets. Rovinj is the most Italian
town on this coast: there's an Italian high school, street-names are in
Italian, and the language is widely spoken in the town. From the main
square, Trg marsala Tita , the Baroque Vrata svetog Kriza leads up to
Grisia Ulica, which is lined with ateliers and galleries selling local
art. It climbs steeply through the heart of the old town to St
Euphemia's Church (Crkva svete Eufemije; daily 10am-noon & 4-7pm),
dominating Rovinj from the top of its stumpy peninsula. This eighteenth-century
church, Baroque in style, has the sixth-century sarcophagus of the saint
inside, and offers the chance to climb its 58-metre-high tower (same
times; 10kn). Back on marsala Tita, the Town Museum (Zavicajni muzej
Rovinj; May-Sept Mon-Sat 9am-12.30pm & 6-9pm; Oct-April Tues-Sat
10am-1.30pm; 10kn) has the usual collection of archeological oddments,
antique furniture and exhibitions of Croatian art. North of here is Trg
Valdibora , home to a small fruit and vegetable market, from where Obala
palih boraca leads along the waterfront to the Marine Biological
Institute at Obala Giordano Paliaga 5; the institute's aquarium (Easter-Oct
daily 9am-9pm; 10kn) has tanks of Adriatic flora and marine life.
Paths on the south side of Rovinj's busy harbour lead beyond the Hotel
Park towards Zlatni rt , a densely-forested cape, crisscrossed by
numerous tracks and fringed by rocky beaches . Other spots for bathing
can be found on the two islands just offshore from Rovinj - Sveta
Katerina , the nearer of the two, and Crveni otok , just outside
Rovinj's bay; both are linked every thirty minutes by boats from the
harbour and are home to a couple of hotels, a handful of pebbly beaches
and some reasonable places to swim.
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from $306.50
USD