Day 5 09.20.15 Pula

Breakfast, walk and pack. We took the 2 pm boat to Rovinj. It is a nice big boat – see below. We then took a 3 pm bus to Pula. Pula is a great town. Much less touristy than Rovinj. There are no hotels in the downtown area so we rented an apartment. Centrally located and very nicely furnished. Pula has a big Roman Amphitheater from 27 BC and one of the best preserved of all Roman amphitheaters. It also has a lot of later, Venetian buildings from the 16th and 17th century. After Pula, we really started doubting Rick Steves and his recommendations. In his Croatia guidebook he raves about Rovinj, and dismisses Pula as not very interesting. We disagree. Rovinj is lovely and very picturesque, but it’s fantasy land for tourists. Pula is a real city, with industry, working people and some tourists added to the mix. Restaurant prices are about half or one third of those in Rovinj. When we got here this afternoon, half of the streets in the old town were blocked off for the “Iron man” race, which stared at 10 am in the morning. Our taxi driver had to drop us off a few blocks from our apartment because of that. Later, we saw the finish of the race in the amphitheater, where they call the name of each runner and called them “gladiators”. Istria 13, Pula 13