Rovinj, Croatia DAY 3

Day 3 started early for Josh as he woke before the sun to head into the heart of the city.  He wanted to of course see the sun rise but to also capture the town before it got to crowded.  The girls and I slept in a bit and were welcomed to a breakfast of pastries when he returned!

Sunset cruise

I was in love with the shutters

We all headed back down to the harbor/old town for a morning of exploration.  We first strolled along the docks before turning up the hill toward the church.  All the older cities we visited seemed to be built this way with fortified walls surrounding narrow streets topped off with a church on top!

The harbor in Rovinj

Pretty girl

After a quick visit to the church (mass was about to start!) we strolled the grounds and made our way slowly down through the cobblestones peeking our heads into little shops.  Rovinj had already stolen our hearts and we vowed to come back in the evening.

Putting on a show!

A moment at the pizzeria

We drove to nearby Pula to explore an amphitheater.  The amphitheater is very much still in tact a testimony to the peninsula's Roman roots.  There wasn't a ton to see but we walked the perimeter and checked out the small museum display in the bowels of the structure (why the displays were on olive oil and not on the structure I have no idea)

My beautiful girl

The arena

It was time for lunch and pizza just sounded good so we walked to a local joint called Pizzeria Jupiter.  It didn't disappoint and we almost put down 3 pies between all of us!  Pula is more a modern industrial city than Rovinj and just didn't have that charm we were looking for.  We wanted to see the amphitheater so after lunch we headed back up to Rovinj.

Caught this moment between these two

Morning naps on Mom

There we gave Mara a quick playground break and let her burn off some energy.  We spent the rest of the evening poking around the city and ducking in small shops with dinner down by the water.  The shinning gem of the night was a sunset boat trip we decided to do on a whim.  Mara had seen all the boats in the harbor and was begging to ride one.  The cost was minimal so we decided to go for it.

She loves to stop and pick wildflowers

The harbor at sunrise

The boat took us out of the harbor and around lasting about two hours.  In the end we caught a small pod of dolphins jumping in the waves so that just topped it off almost helping us forget the screaming baby who wanted to sleep in our arms.  Poor Maddy was done and just ready for her bed!

First taste of sorbet