The old town of Rovinj and the Church of St. Euphemia.
Day 12: Roman Pula and St. Euphemia's in Rovinj
Pula
We aren't ones for doing a lot of sitting around on our vacations. I mean, we like to relax, but we prefer to do more than wandering a town looking in shops or sitting on the beach for a whole day. Our style of travel just means we need more than that. So Deb, Brett and myself decided to see a little bit of Rome on our trip by heading to the nearby town of Pula. Rick says that while it is an industrial port town it has the soul of a Roman poet, and that poetic soul is why we wanted to visit. We headed to the bus station in Rovinj, bought our tickets, and took the bus to the bus station in Pula. We used Rick's self-guided walk in the Croatia guidebook to wend our way around Pula hitting the Roman highlights. We spent the most time seeing the Roman amphitheatre before viewing the other bits and bobs left by the Roman occupation of Pula. |
Image of the DayThis view from the hotel island is simply magical! The lights on in the old town, St. Euphemia rising from the center, and the sparkling water with the reflections...we couldn't get enough of the beauty!
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Pro-Tip: The bus was really the easiest way to get from Rovinj to Pula. When we got to the ticket window for the bus station there was no one in line and the clerk was on a break. We decided to just wait in front of the window so we would be first in line. The woman behind us heard us talking about it and in English assured us it was the right move. Sure enough, 15-20 minutes later when the clerk came back the line behind us was pretty long. Buy your ticket with a return so you don't have to worry about getting back, and start the line if you have to!
Roman Amphitheatre in Pula
Our first stop in Pula following Rick's walk was the Roman Amphitheatre, the 6th largest at 435 feet long and 345 feet wide, and one of the best preserved anywhere. It was finished in AD 80. After the fall of Rome people looking for ready made stone picked the building apart from the inside. Most of the amphitheatre's interior stones such as the steps and seats are now in the walls of Pula's buildings and some palaces in Venice. We walked around the exterior first simply marveling at how large and well preserved it was. We then went inside to walk around it to see it from a spectator's viewpoint. They were setting up for a concert which was great as it means they still use it. Wow! Could you imagine seeing a concert in a Roman Amphitheatre?!
Then we headed down chute #17 to the museum exhibit below. The lower level of the amphitheatre is where the gladiators and animals were kept between fights. The chute we came down was, like chutes all around the amphitheatre, where the gladiators would charge up to fight. The exhibits include a grape press, two olive oil mills, and a lot of amphorae. Amphorae are the jugs used by the ancient Greeks to transport things like oil, wine and fish. Taller, skinny ones were generally used for wine and the short, fat ones for olive oil. |
#17 chute we accessed the lower level exhibits through, drawing of what the amphitheatre would have looked like intact & ready for a gladiator fight, different types of amphorae, Roman oil works showing where to crush the olives and where the oil would run and be collected, a cart to transport what look to be like wine amphorae.
Rovinj & St. Eumphemia'sUpon arrival back in Rovinj from Pula we decided to head up to St. Euphemia's enjoying the streets of the Old Town along the way. We started at Tito Square and headed through Balbi Arch to go up, up, up! The Church of St. Euphemia was built in 1754 in the Baroque style and is watched over by its 190 foot campanile. It is a replica of the famous one on St. Mark's Square in Venice. At the top of the tower is a weathervane of St. Euphemia. So who is St. Euphemia? She was the daughter of a prosperous 4th century family who lived near Istanbul. She used her wealth to help the poor, but her philanthropy coincided with anti-Christian purges by Emperor Diocletian, and she was martyred. More detail to come on that with the pictures of the inside of the church.
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The facade of St. Euphemia's and the campanile.
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Dinner During Sunset in RovinjI can't remember the name of our restaurant, but it was right along the waterfront in Rovinj. We sat outside and enjoyed an amazing sunset as we dined. A starter arrived where we each got a slice of what was a kind of tart with tomatoes, olives and maybe anchovies? Then we each got our own plate of little seafood bites - 2 different types of fish and octopus. The final plate was fish, a prawn and some squid. Brett dived right into the prawn! We love seafood and it was all really delicious. I highly recommend the seafood in Croatia!
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