Travelin' Fullers Blog: Zagreb and Rovenj

We've arrived in beautiful Croatia- first stop was Zagreb, the Capitol. Though a bit jet lagged, we set off immediately on a 2 hour walking tour. We definitely got a "taste" of the city before we caved. It's a lovely city with a real sense of energy and joy. It was a Friday evening and there was a festival in the old town area, but even so there was an energy to the city as night time approached. We stopped (I might say I collapsed, after a 3 mile walk) at a lovely restaurant with street side tables for a wonderful dinner! We all wished we had the energy to return for the festival in the city center, but our legs and eyes were giving us a different message!

After catching up on some much needed sleep, we checked out of our very nice hotel and began the three hour drive to our second stop, the seaside town of Rovenj. Rovenj is charming. It is definitely a resort area ---much more laid back and peaceful. It is primarily a seaside resort and artist colony. All signs in Rovenj are printed in both Italian and Croatian. Looking across the sea, Venice is a 2 1/2 hour boat ride away (about 100 km). But Italian everything is very prominent here! We did about a 4 mile walk around the city and yes, (yea!) I made it the whole way. It was a bit of a challenge for my hip, but I made it including lots of steps and up and down cobblestone roads! Our guide (nickname Goga) was excellent and we will see her again tomorrow for our all day tour of the Istrian Peninsula. She was extremely nice and kept our walk at a leisurely pace! The city depends on tourism for 1/3 of its economy. The other two important industries are the tobacco factory (where they hand roll cigarettes) and the sardine factory! The sardine factory never closes, but they are only canning the sardines for about 2 weeks a month. This is because sardines are caught at night and it must be totally dark (they don't like moonlight) and this only happens with a new moon! In the tobacco factory, almost all employees are women (just 3 men) because the women are more dexterous at rolling the cigarettes. And yes, it seems EVERYONE here smokes! They don't seem to care about the health hazards! We climbed to the top of the town to visit the beautiful St. Eufemia Church. On the way down, we passed a wedding party walking up the street to get married in the church.

The TV here is full of news of the 17,000 refugees that have entered Croatia in the last 2 days (since Hungary closed its borders.) Croatia cannot absorb the number of refugees fleeing here. The refugees are trying to get to Austria and Germany. Now that the official border from Croatia is closed, they are flooding into the forests and the fields to find other ways to cross. It's a huge and growing problem and everyone here is very concerned.

We are enjoying time with our friends of forty years, Tom and Barb Roddel! More tomorrow night. Still suffering from a bit of jet lag and all the walking of the last two days! Stay tuned!