Pula-Rijeka-Zadar

Difficult to leave Rovinj and its particular atmosphere: big Venetian cathedral surrounded by small fisher houses. Surely the town will be crowded of tourists in July and August.

The water is so blue we are even more keen on scuba diving. Looks like it might be difficult in this low season because most of the tourist attractions are still closed down.

We leave thus Rovinj with the firm intention to catch a ferry from Pula to the island of Mali Losinj and then Zadar. In Pula we hear that this ferry is not active any more and that we have to change our plans. Another example of inaccuracy of our Lonely Planet guide book, perhaps the 2005 version is already too old for a moving country like Croatia. But the Book took us out of trouble many times so we can accept mistakes from time to time. Flexibility is what we have!

We visited the town of Pula and its impressive Roman theatre, temple and arch. From the more recent castle we can observe the frenetic activity of the nearby shipyard obstructing the sea view. I am impressed by the number of yards around the country. The maritime industry is still a big part of the Croatian economy. With my shipping experience I explain to Maïté the difference between a dry bulker and a car carrier (yes I can distinguish them ).

We decide then to head to Rijeka before the fall of the night. We follow a narrow road alongside the Istrian coast with fantastic views over the surrounding islands. Rijeka is an even bigger city and welcomes us with its many beer terraces on the pedestrian « Korzo ». We are one more time surprised by the age of the crowds. The Croatian population is young and noisy. With their future entry in EU they will give a boost to the « old » Europe. The only place where we can still find something to eat is a Belgian café. We tried our best to avoid it but just had no choice! Rijeka would probably not ring a bell to the readers not familiar with the shipping world. In my former job I had to include the discharge port of Rijeka to many tanker freight contracts so I am happy to see now how it looks like.

We found a clean room at Maria Popovic guest house and had a good sleep. In the next morning we took another bus to Zadar. We enjoyed a dramatic view on the islands of Rab, Pag and Krk, most of them being desertic.

Zadar is a nice place full of churches and bell towers. The small streets and big walls keep the air fresh. The sea organ on the promenade gives a melodious concert. We were planning to visit the nearby Kornati Islands but decided to go further south to have more chances to find open dive centres. Looks like the real start of the season is on the long week-end of the 1st of May.