May 6, Wednesday
Rovinj is a wonderful Old World oasis on the Adriatic coast. We were told that the Croatia coastline consists of mostly pretty, interchangeable, tacky, tourist towns. Rovinj is not like that. Its streets are delightfully twisty, its houses crumbling in a romantic way and its harbor seems to be a working facility alive with fishermen and their boats, along with a birth for a cruise ship. After 500 years of Italian rule, mostly by the Venetian Republic it has a very decided Italian cultural, linguistic, gastronomical and architectural flavor. Indeed Italian seems to be spoken as much as Croatian and many highway signs were also in Italian. The Austrians got the place after Napoleon was defeated. However they put their development money on the Istria peninsula into Pula and Trieste so Rovinj just seems to have lingered in Old World quaintness. This is a real place with skinny houses, not palaces and working fishing boats, not Russian oligarch yachts. During tourist season, we were too early for that, I was told that lots of Germans come here. The map noted the free body culture beach, which I was told was international shorthand for nudity, or as our guesthouse host lady said, pudgy nude bodies.
After we got up we went to the small market across the street to buy some food. Focused on breakfast, fruit, milk and cereal, but also some items for dinner. Prices were pretty comparable to those at home. We then walked into town past the bus station and taxi cab stand, along the harbor waterfront and to the cruise ship (small) dock just outside old town. From here there is good view of the old town with the Venetian looking buildings seeming to rise straight out of the water. At the top of the hill is a large church topped by a bell tower with a weather vane in the shape of Rovinj's patron saint, Euphemia. If she is facing land, bad weather is soon to follow.
We then went over to the Communist era monument. This is a huge, ponderous stone that celebrates The Yugoslav Partisan's Army WWII victory over the Germans and commemorates victims of fascism. It is a bilingual memorial. and without any subtlety shows prisoners being prodded by guns in their backs from a soldier wearing a Nazi style helmet. The whole scene is very jarring in the context of the old town. Many of the Croatians we spoke with praised Tito, particularly for the peace and prosperity that they enjoyed under his rule, but younger Croatians praised independence and the absence of communism.
We then went to a large open air market. Purchased many vegetables and greens. These prices were low compared to our local Farmer's Markets and, perhaps due to the lateness of the hour, many vendors pressed additional goods into our bags. There was a large Hapsburg era fountain in the center of the market. Exiting the market we walked down Garibaldi Ave (he of 19th century Italian reunification) and into Square of the Bridge. In the Middle Ages under the Venetians, Rovinj was an island. The Italians lived there and traded, while the Slaves farmed on the mainland and the two groups mixed only by crossing the bridge at this site. In 1763 the waterway was filled in, the populations mixed and Rovinj became a peninsula. There were lively cafes, bars, ice cream shops and a cultural center around the square.The latter showed off the flat-bottomed fishing boats used by the locals and had announcements of musical events.
We walked out of the square past the Town Hall (under reconstruction) with a Venetian lion and into the larger Tito Square. There is a fountain in the center with reliefs of stiff, socialist workers and a boy holding a water spouting fish. This commemorates the building of a town water system in 1959. Before that people hauled water from fountains to their homes. Many of the fountains remain. We walked out on a concrete pier that lead into the harbor and viewed the early set ups for a photography exhibit. From the pier we saw across the harbor a monstrosity for workers' vacations from the Tito era.
We then walked through the Balbi Arch constructed by the Venetians and started up the hill into the heart of Old Town. We passed through a little square that had a restaurant which was once a cistern that collected rainwater and up Grisia Street. This is the main shopping street, actually a narrow twisting lane, that had many small art galleries. Off this street there were many very small courtyards, nooks and crannies with houses poking out at many angles.
At the top we entered the Church of St. Euphemia. It dates from 1754 and is topped by a 190ft bell tower that looked very much to me like an imitation of the bell tower in St Marks square in Venice. Euphemia was the virtuous daughter of a prosperous Roman official in Istanbul in the 3rd century AD. She converted to Christianity and gave her fortune away to help the poor. Unfortunately she was doing this during the reign of Emperor Diocletian who was not happy with Christians. He had her arrested, tortured and thrown to the lions. The lions, clearly early converts, miraculously declined to attack her. All of this is documented in paintings within the church.. Euphemia's big marble sarcophagus supposedly floated from the Adriatic up to Rovinj's shores in 800. It was very heavy, but through a miracle a young boy with two calves moved it up to the hill top church were it resides today.
We walked back down through another restaurant row and stopped for some drinks and a bathroom break. Returned to our apartment and cooked dinner with our purchases. After dinner we walked back into town for a night time stroll and some ice cream.
Rovinj is a wonderful Old World oasis on the Adriatic coast. We were told that the Croatia coastline consists of mostly pretty, interchangeable, tacky, tourist towns. Rovinj is not like that. Its streets are delightfully twisty, its houses crumbling in a romantic way and its harbor seems to be a working facility alive with fishermen and their boats, along with a birth for a cruise ship. After 500 years of Italian rule, mostly by the Venetian Republic it has a very decided Italian cultural, linguistic, gastronomical and architectural flavor. Indeed Italian seems to be spoken as much as Croatian and many highway signs were also in Italian. The Austrians got the place after Napoleon was defeated. However they put their development money on the Istria peninsula into Pula and Trieste so Rovinj just seems to have lingered in Old World quaintness. This is a real place with skinny houses, not palaces and working fishing boats, not Russian oligarch yachts. During tourist season, we were too early for that, I was told that lots of Germans come here. The map noted the free body culture beach, which I was told was international shorthand for nudity, or as our guesthouse host lady said, pudgy nude bodies.
After we got up we went to the small market across the street to buy some food. Focused on breakfast, fruit, milk and cereal, but also some items for dinner. Prices were pretty comparable to those at home. We then walked into town past the bus station and taxi cab stand, along the harbor waterfront and to the cruise ship (small) dock just outside old town. From here there is good view of the old town with the Venetian looking buildings seeming to rise straight out of the water. At the top of the hill is a large church topped by a bell tower with a weather vane in the shape of Rovinj's patron saint, Euphemia. If she is facing land, bad weather is soon to follow.
We then went over to the Communist era monument. This is a huge, ponderous stone that celebrates The Yugoslav Partisan's Army WWII victory over the Germans and commemorates victims of fascism. It is a bilingual memorial. and without any subtlety shows prisoners being prodded by guns in their backs from a soldier wearing a Nazi style helmet. The whole scene is very jarring in the context of the old town. Many of the Croatians we spoke with praised Tito, particularly for the peace and prosperity that they enjoyed under his rule, but younger Croatians praised independence and the absence of communism.
We then went to a large open air market. Purchased many vegetables and greens. These prices were low compared to our local Farmer's Markets and, perhaps due to the lateness of the hour, many vendors pressed additional goods into our bags. There was a large Hapsburg era fountain in the center of the market. Exiting the market we walked down Garibaldi Ave (he of 19th century Italian reunification) and into Square of the Bridge. In the Middle Ages under the Venetians, Rovinj was an island. The Italians lived there and traded, while the Slaves farmed on the mainland and the two groups mixed only by crossing the bridge at this site. In 1763 the waterway was filled in, the populations mixed and Rovinj became a peninsula. There were lively cafes, bars, ice cream shops and a cultural center around the square.The latter showed off the flat-bottomed fishing boats used by the locals and had announcements of musical events.
We walked out of the square past the Town Hall (under reconstruction) with a Venetian lion and into the larger Tito Square. There is a fountain in the center with reliefs of stiff, socialist workers and a boy holding a water spouting fish. This commemorates the building of a town water system in 1959. Before that people hauled water from fountains to their homes. Many of the fountains remain. We walked out on a concrete pier that lead into the harbor and viewed the early set ups for a photography exhibit. From the pier we saw across the harbor a monstrosity for workers' vacations from the Tito era.
We then walked through the Balbi Arch constructed by the Venetians and started up the hill into the heart of Old Town. We passed through a little square that had a restaurant which was once a cistern that collected rainwater and up Grisia Street. This is the main shopping street, actually a narrow twisting lane, that had many small art galleries. Off this street there were many very small courtyards, nooks and crannies with houses poking out at many angles.
At the top we entered the Church of St. Euphemia. It dates from 1754 and is topped by a 190ft bell tower that looked very much to me like an imitation of the bell tower in St Marks square in Venice. Euphemia was the virtuous daughter of a prosperous Roman official in Istanbul in the 3rd century AD. She converted to Christianity and gave her fortune away to help the poor. Unfortunately she was doing this during the reign of Emperor Diocletian who was not happy with Christians. He had her arrested, tortured and thrown to the lions. The lions, clearly early converts, miraculously declined to attack her. All of this is documented in paintings within the church.. Euphemia's big marble sarcophagus supposedly floated from the Adriatic up to Rovinj's shores in 800. It was very heavy, but through a miracle a young boy with two calves moved it up to the hill top church were it resides today.
We walked back down through another restaurant row and stopped for some drinks and a bathroom break. Returned to our apartment and cooked dinner with our purchases. After dinner we walked back into town for a night time stroll and some ice cream.
No comments:
Post a Comment