A little history & a bit of terror

This is St Euphemia Church, one of the main sites in Rovinj Croatia – where we are visiting.

Euphemia stands atop the Venetian style bell tower and acts as a weather vane. If she is facing the sea the sailors know they’ll have a good day and if she’s facing the town – not so much!

St Euphemia, age 15, was a martyr in the year 300.

Story goes that she washed up on the shores of Rovinj in this sargaphogus 500 years later. Thus the name of the church.

We decided to go up the bell tower for views of the surrounding area.

192 terrifying stairs!

At the top there was this hole that we could look through to see this crazy staircase.

Built in 1754 – very scary climbing up AND going down!

Hill towns of Croatia

Croatia’s landscape is dotted with sleepy, picturesque hill towns.

Grozjan (grohzh-NYAHN) was the first of three hill towns that we visited.

It was virtually forgotten until several artists took up residency. Lots of nice galleries to visit.

Check out these dates.

RESTORED in 1799! 😀

Zavrsje (ZAH-vur-shyeh), small, compact and deserted. This was our favorite (favourite for Nathan and Belinda) town of the three that we saw.

After the Italian exodus post WII this village remains almost uninhabited today.

Only a very few locals live here now and virtually all of the buildings are abandoned skeletons.

My very own hobbit house!

Motovun (moh-toh-VOON), biggest town we visited, built one thousand feet above vineyards and truffle filled forests. Birthplace of Mario Andretti.

Nice spot to grab lunch before

walking the walls. Windy up here!

Commanding view of the countryside below.

When on the Adriatic…

When you’re in a beautiful town

where fishing is the main industry

it’s probably good to order fish for dinner.

Right!?!

Ummm, (cover your eyes, Annette). I think I can do this.

Yep! Pretty tasty!

Murph liked his squid, too! (wish you were here, Tewks).

The square where our eatery was located.

Next day, I thought it would be safe to order crab risotto – here we go again!

Finally!!!

After just about three weeks of fall like weather we landed in Piran, Slovenia.

We spent the next day laying at the beach – relaxing and reading.

Then we walked the ancient path into the old town.

And explored the charming lanes.

Spent some time in Tartini Square…

I thought these fishing storage units were pretty cool. There were about 30 different containers and each had a unique painting of the old town.

Such a warm evening we decided to stay for sunset.

This and that

On the way to Bled we stopped in the village of Radovljica and visited this Catholic church.

I found it fascinating that so many flowers were used to decorate the ceiling instead of religious figures.

While staying in Bled, we walked through the neighborhood orchard many times. At first I thought they were just apple trees, then I discovered the plum trees. Never have I tasted such sweet plums – even the skin was sweet! Yummy

My favorite selfie.

My favorite hubby!

I think this is a fun pic. ❤

Vintgar gorge, outside Bled

We’re out of the shire, Mr Frodo.

Headed over to a nearby recommended place – Lake Bohinj (bo hee n).

Weather less than perfect.

A bit English I’d say but anyone who knows us know we are anglophiles!

Fun way to keep the kids (and me!) entertained along the hike.

Great carving

This is no way to see a beautiful lake and mountains! Seriously.

Wait – look at this green water! Hard to tell it from the green grass beyond.

Australian couple, playing Pooh Sticks, stopped to take this photo of us.

Hung in long enough for blue sky. Hooray!

Kids are kids the world around…

Lake Bled, Slovenia

Head through our neighborhood to the lake.

Lake Bled

This church is on an island in Lake Bled.

Nice reflection.

Cool castle

Our walk around the lake – 6K.

Still walking…

Time for dinner. I had an amazing veggie plate. So hungry I forgot to take a picture but it was beautiful!

Castle at night.

What a difference a day makes. Huge & loud thunderstorms during the night. And our mountain view? Gone!

Off to the local bakery for breakfast.

Different…

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