Just one hour and fifty minutes and EasyJet delivers us to a different world- warm, dry and sunny. Welcome to Istria- our holiday destination inside our holiday, a week of lazing by the water, reading books, eating seafood and truffle flavoured anything and drinking pivo, Cuba Libre and Aperol Spritz. Hedonism- the ethical theory that pleasure (in the sense of the satisfaction of desires) is the highest good and proper aim of human life. OK I’m there…even if it’s just for a little while.
Rovinj has a long history and much of it is concerned with fishing. A few times a week, during summer fishermen put on a street party with music and seafood shared at trestle tables and forms. It’s all part of celebrating the festival dedicated to the Battana, a traditional wooden fishing boat whose special feature is the flat bottom that enables navigation and fishing in shallow water. It’s a very convivial experience. A very large yellowfin tuna had been laid out for all to inspect. It was about to be our dinner. I figured it fed at least two hundred people!
Just as the sun begins to set the crowd on the pier swells as legions of romantics gather with their phones and jostle for the best position to take the iconic sunset photo. Just as we think it couldn’t get any better, the musician begins to sing John’s favourite song, ‘Losing My Religion’. The stars are aligned.
With every imaginable type of accommodation and blessed with consistent warm dry summers and bountiful natural beauty, Rovinj attracts more than two million tourists a year. We enjoy lazy days, reading swimming, eating and drinking and just chilling. I get some interesting looks from the Northern Europeans who come to bask in the sun as I lavish sunscreen on me, don a hat, carry an umbrella and always seek the shadiest spot as I laze on my sunbed under a huge umbrella. I wear my goggles and water slippers and step tentatively over the pebbles and into the cool crystal-clear water confident I won’t be bitten, stung or eaten by creatures great or small. I don’t even have to make much of an effort as the water is so salty I can float vertically. I understand muscle is denser than fat, so I must admit the natural buoyancy factor helps.
We moved up a notch on the hedonism scale when we checked into Grand Hotel Brioni. We needed to stay two days before catching the ferry to Venice. John discovered this hotel. This was a treat. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay and seeing the Parasailing boat was just there, I decided it would be a good opportunity to try something a bit different.