Rovinj

Rovinj is a nearly ancient town in the most Italian part of Croatia's coast. It is at the tip of a tiny peninsula, its buildings coming right down to the water. It flourished under Venice from the Middle Ages on, and it is flourishing right now, having been discovered by the tourist hordes, including us. A very picturesque and agreeable place. The campground/RV park at Rovinj is enormous and half an hour's walk along the beach and then the harbor to the city. We spent a very pleasant afternoon and evening exploring the sights and the many squares and alleys. We were in Rovinj July 4th. No one was celebrating, least of all us. A day of sadness, mourning...

Pix taken the next morning when the sun was better positioned

Glassy, clear Adriatic

No super-yacht here, just working fishing boats

1956 monument celebrating the struggle against fascism

The buildings, mostly residences, appear to rise right out of the sea

Main drag

It's a small place, area-wise, and the only way to grow was up and with very
narrow alleys

Restaurant seating

Church and bell tower of St. Euphemia

Atop the tower is the St. Euphemia weather-vane, more than
life-size, which we'll see later

Double-barreled downspout

Recycled material in the church building

The marina; no yachts here, either

View from where we had drinks (photo of Negroni and Pina Colada to appear)

Thus

St. Euphemia telling us a big storm is approaching from the sea

Adriatic sunset

It's 10 PM, and all across the Mediterranean, from Spain to Turkey, the kids
are  still up and at it; even the little ones

Motovun

We moved on, seeking a hill-top fortress as an antidote to an uninteresting 19th century seaside resort. On Motovun's slopes is a camper-stop, operated by the local hotel...10 or so sites, the usual facilities and amenities, even a small swimming pool. Not cheap, but comfortable and convenient. With rain predicted the next day, we decided to do the hill town that afternoon, taking the not-free shuttle up the hill.

Motovun, a higher hill town than most

Main street; only street

Wine, brandy, honey, olive oil, the usual

Not the usual: this is truffle country

Sadly, we're not truffles fans; sadly because they're much
cheaper here than en France

Main entrance to town

A view from above, broad valley, irrigation canal, truffle forests

Second gate

Main square, 6;30 PM; completely deserted

Church interior; pretty standard, except

For this wonder; and her partner on the other side of the
door; bikini-clad caryatids?

The Hotel Kastel, which seems to be the main business in Motovun; also owns
the campground below

For a mere 4E each, you can walk the walls; takes about 5 minutes but does
provide some good views

Including this Croatian futbol fan; I have been following the Croats, my
adopted team for 2018, watching their games against Argentina, Denmark,
and Russia, and otherwise following them on-line, including last night's
victory over England; they play France Sunday for the World Cup; I hope
to be watching...

The usual feral dogs; Vicki says they're truffle hounds

Little-known fact: Mario Andretti was born in Motovun (which was then part
of Italy)

Kiddie park sponsored by Porsche

There's truffles in them thar hills

The 4E ticket gets you into the city gallery, too, where I got this nice shot of a
shot

City coat of arms, in the first gate

Truffles

Truffles shoppe

Motovun needs more visitors; we've done our par

Our encampment 

Opatija

Our next goal was the seaside resort of Opatija, mainly for its architecture. The Hapsburgs ruled these lands for only a half-century or so, until the end of WWI, but they made their mark, bringing infrastructure, railroads, building ports (Austria-Hungary was land-locked, so they were really pleased to gain miles of natural harbors on the Adriatic, not really all that far from Vienna), and resorts; and architecture. All this as Art Nouveau was growing.

The mom-and-pop campgrounds are always the best; not for the amenities, but
for the sincerity and charm; the manager here, in an apple and other unidentified 
fruit orchard, told me we were his first American guests; his favorite NBA team 
is the Golden State Warriors--this elicited when I told him one of our daughters lived 
near Frisco--as evening approached, he carried a tray of schnapps to each of the 
several campers on site; powerful stuff, too, and I had to drink Vicki's as well...

The interior of Croatia is war-torn, too; after the depredations of Milosevic's 
Serbian troops and their "ethnic cleansing," the Serbian population of this area
left, leaving perhaps a third of the homes and lands vacant

Mile upon mile of land, tillable, graze-able land, untouched

Homes vacant--perhaps a Croatian family "cleansed" or a Serbian family departed;
"Christian" vs. "Christian"; this has been going on for centuries...

A defunct aircraft museum; or perhaps these are the craft that couldn't get off
in the fighting

Yes, well, moving right along, the road snakes down to the coast...serpentina

Below great limestone cliffs

And finally Opatija and the challenge of finding parking space in a 19th century
resort town

We were sort of underwhelmed by the architecture; traces of Art Nuvo...

The glassy Adriatic

Kiddie beach

Pigeon spa