Pula

Pula is a large town situated on the southern tip of Istria's triangular peninsula. Its main feature is the 1st century BC Roman Amphitheatre but we wanted to visit the market too.

On the journey we passed thousands of olive trees and as it was a weekend, the families were out in force picking and pruning, loading bulging sacks of the fruits into their vans.

Pulling up at a harbourside gravel car park on the outskirts of Pula we went to investigate the parking situation. Unfortunately we hadn't any kuna in coins and the machine didn't accept notes. A sign and a helpful English speaking litter picker advised us we could get a ticket at a shop further along so we set off to do this. Upon reaching the central harbour area a woman hailed us, telling us all about the fantastic boat trip she was running. She advised us that the car park opposite accepted notes so we checked it out and Vicky went and fetched the van. Unfortunately the barrier wouldn't allow us entrance and a grumpy parking attendant marched over and told us vans were not allowed. She refused to allow us entry to turn around and insisted we reverse the van back out on to the main road, somehow avoiding the 3 cars that were queuing behind us - not the easiest of tasks! Leaving a tailback of about 20 cars on the main road we returned to near our original parking spot and Will managed to get change from a helpful passersby.

Our moods less than buoyant thanks to the punctilious parking attendant, we returned to town and used the Rough Guides info and map to find the market. We had worried the stalls might have packed up after our delay of nearly an hour and although some were showing signs of closing, most were still in full flow.

As well as the regular fruit, veg and a few craft stalls it was exciting to see locally grown and processed items that would have to be imported to UK markets if they were available at all. As you may have guessed, Pula olives and olive oil were a prominent feature, but there were also beautiful garlands of brightly coloured chillis and bags of dried figs. Honey, dried herbs and homemade liqueurs in elegant bottles were all in abundance and we had to work hard to restrain ourselves as we were still not used to the pound - kuna conversion rates. We found the meat and fish market in a stone and glass walled building with an arched roof framing a mural at one end. We'd read about the brilliant oysters and mussels in Croatia but as we suspected they were out of season and so we got a few sardines and a meal of massive prawns. Most stallholders spoke a little German, if not English and so we managed to get what we wanted without any misunderstanding.

Picking up some prsut ham and bread we picnicked beside the amphitheatre before going inside and exploring the underground area with its display of old olive oil making and storage equipment. The 22,000 capacity amphitheatre itself waa incredibly well preserved and we were lucky to have such great weather to explore it in with so few other tourists about.

On the way back to the Vizinada stopover we wanted to visit a small port town called Rovinj. It was a little difficult getting there as we deviated from the main road and came to a street that wound so narrowly between houses with low hanging telephone wires that we had to again reverse out and take an alternate route. We had the same difficulty parking in Rovinj as in Pula (no vans in central parking zones) and failing to find anywhere close enough so as not to exacerbate Will's painful feet we gave it a miss and headed back to our stopover for a scrumptious seafood supper.Read more