Welcome back to “When Wine Calls” as we end our travels through Croatia at the picturesque town of Rovinj.
Rovinj was always going to be a highly emotional stop for us on our trip as Pauline’s father Geoff tragically and suddenly passed away here 6 years ago. Pauline and I travelled over from Australia at that time to assist her mother, Joyce with handling the necessary affairs required to bring Geoff and Joyce home and stayed in Rovinj for almost 3 weeks. However, that time was full of sadness, much frustration, and the most emotional stress we have ever experienced, as one could imagine, and our memories of this wonderful town were in many instances blurred by the circumstances we were dealing with. We had attempted to come back to Rovinj with Joyce a few years ago but Covid prevented that occurring, so we were determined to travel here on this trip to deal with the emotional demons, thank some of the locals personally who had assisted us during that fateful time and discover the beauties of this town for ourselves that Geoff and Joyce had fell in love with each time they visited.
We had booked an apartment in the Old Town not far from where Geoff and Joyce usually stayed, and it had this unique little wine bar at the base of the stairs to the apartment that provided regular music and atmosphere in the evenings as well as our spot for Happy Hour. Importantly, the apartment had a washing machine to enable us to get our washing up to date after the cruise.
Rovinj is not a town that is as easily accessible as Split and Dubrovnik with the nearest airport being Pula, about a 40-minute taxi ride south of Rovinj. The easiest way to get there from Australia is via Venice (by high-speed boat) or via Pula from cities such as London on low-cost carrier flights.
For us the only reasonable way to get there from Split was via a 6-hour car transfer through Octopus Transfers which, while a long trip, worked well in getting there with minimal travel hassles. The driver broke up the trip with a stop along the highway for us to get a coffee and some lunch which was welcomed and as we approached Rovinj contacted the apartment owner and arranged for her to meet us at the edge of the Old Town to transfer our luggage into her car so we could go into the Old Town and avoid wheeling all our bags through the streets as much as possible. This was the second time we had used Octopus Transfers after they had transferred us from Split to Dubrovnik a few weeks ago and I couldn’t recommend them highly enough.
After settling in and getting the washing machine operating, we went for a walk and located the restaurant Stella di Mare, a favourite of Pauline’s cousin Leone who has a house in the Old Town and visits Rovinj regularly. We were thrilled that they sat us at a table at the water’s edge which allowed us to have dinner watching the sunset over the Adriatic – it was surreal and emotional at the same time to know we had finally come back to Rovinj.
Over the next few days, we similarly wandered the cobbled laneways and located landmarks that either one of us would remember from that time including the Church of Saint Euphemia located at the top of the hill overlooking and protecting the Old Town, a restaurant that served French cuisine at the time that held so much importance to us both as well as Joyce and Leone and several other eateries that we had ate at previously.
One, restaurant, in particular, Segutra was owned by a couple who provided so much comfort to us at the time with Natasha recognisig us after all those years which was quite uplifting – we ate there several times during the week and the food was exceptional each evening.
Breakfast each morning was on the front deck of the wonderful Adriatic Hotel overlooking the town square and the harbour and where we had spent so many countless hours on the phone with the insurance company, government officials and family as we attempted to resolve the necessary issues required to come home – back then it was the only place that had reliable internet and mobile coverage with Pauline and myself reflecting on those days when we lived off too many cappuccinos at the hotel to keep count in order to keep us both functioning.
After a few days we finally felt emotionally ready to head up to the church and light candles in memory of Geoff as well as a close family friend that had been lost to us in the past few weeks. It was a tough couple of hours, but we left the church ready to start a new chapter of enjoying Rovinj for the wonderful town it is.
The next few days we went swimming off the rocks, caught the ferry over to Katarina Island and spent time at the Hotel’s Beach Club, drank plenty of Aperol’s at little bars overlooking the beautiful Adriatic, tested out the local gelato and explored the many little shops in the laneways throughout the Old Town.
We also admired each day over coffee at the Adriatic the unbelievable super yachts that would call into port for one or 2 nights and dreamt.
As you may have gathered while reading earlier blogs our daily Aperol’s (for hydration purposes of course) have become an important activity throughout our travels. It also has been an important benchmark for assessing the prices in each of the towns and cities we visited. In Rovinj we found that not only do you get a price for sitting down at a bar and having your Aperol you can also get a discounted price for “Aperol to Go” – who would have thought, although we could not bring ourselves to drinking Aperol out of plastic cups while walking the streets even if we would have saved money, there is simply a line one does not exceed when travelling.
Prior to leaving Australia we had booked a restaurant that had remained in our memory as a place we had escaped the sadness and stress for a few hours back in 2017.
Restaurant La Puntalina is located on a cliff face in the Old Town and enjoys the best sunsets imaginable with tables located on the various rock ledges complete with white tablecloths and table lamps – it is a truly wonderful location and our night there was just so magical.
We were lucky enough that night to have a sunset on a completely clear night that allowed the sun to simply sit on the horizon before slowly dipping beneath the water – we could not have wished for anything more from the evening.
In our last few days in Rovinj, Pauline’s cousin, Sachaa, her husband Adam with Max and Jasper flew in from London which enabled us to catch up, have coffee and a few drinks as well as dinner one night prior to us leaving. It was great that we could meet up with them during our stay as it put some added context around the visit.
Our time in Rovinj and therefore Croatia had come to an end, and we were leaving still with many emotions but also new memories of this amazing town and the happiness you get from spending some time here and soaking up the friendliness of the people and the beauty of the Old Town, the harbour and foreshore and most of all the sunsets that simply take your breath away.
The next morning, we needed to get up extra early and be down at the wharf on sunrise to catch the fast ferry back to Italy to the romantic city of Venice, about 3 hours away. While reluctant to leave Rovinj we were nevertheless excited to get to Venice, another city we had not visited since the mid 80’s. We had not planned that much in Venice intending to just soak up the atmosphere and wander along the canals and laneways.
See you all in Venice in our next blog.
Bruce & Pauline.
When Wine Calls 
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