Pula and Sibenik (Shebenick)

Couldn't get any better parking?

Not bad having front door parking for the bike in front of one of the great amphitheatres.

1 of the 6 best in the World

It was constructed in 27 BC - 68 AD^[1] and is among the six largest surviving Roman arenas in the World. This should really part of the first entry since it was our last visited place on the Istrian peninsula but we decided to drive on instead of return to the base apartment we had set up for 2 nights. Pula is located 35 kms south of Rovinj and the amphitheatre is it’s main tourist attraction. Sandra remarked that we must have seen all the great amphitheatre’s, Epidavros Greece for it’s sound, Pergama Turkey for the dramatic backdrop, Efes for the story of St Paul and “The Coliseum” in Rome, and Delphi and the Temple of Athena.

From there we continued on through Rijeka to a small town called Senj where we stayed last evening, just tucking in before it started to rain. We found a great, not so little 3 brdm apartment there for 35E, super clean with a great view of the Adriatic Sea, but alas the rain took away the view. This morning we awoke to dark skies, donned our rain gear and rode ½ way to Sibenik in rain, the other in bright sun arriving here to another great place called the Villa Korina. There is something about that part of the Croatian coast that won't let me ride it in the sun.

We had one little fun adventure with the bike today. As we drove out of the mountains to a point where the GPS told me to turn, there were tape marks through the name Sibenik indicating I could only go to Benkovac. We stopped at the gas bar then cafe and they all confirmed we would have to go to Zadar then on. Undaunted I wanted to try it anyway and when we got to Benkovac, sure enough the road was closed. So I followed some others toward the detour to Zadar only to see what looked like some local cars turning left into a church cemetery  I followed and sure enough it led to a gravel lane that cars would pour out of, 1 at a time and less than 1 lane wide. When it was my turn I headed through talked with a woman who kind of confirmed in Croatian that yes I could go that way to Sibenik and in 2 kms we were back on tarmac.Saved us a lot of kilometers of backtracking.

The Villa Korina has a beautiful private deck, kitchen and wonderful access to te water. After another nice late lunch by the water overlooking the island of Kapanj we headed back into town to view another World Heritage Site, the Cathedral of St Jakov (James).

The dome of this cathedral suffered a direct hit in the 1991-95 war

and is only now being repaired. The cathedral dates back to the 14-15^th centuries and is very much a part of Sibenik’s town centre. Beautiful gardens, overlooks to the surrounding islands make this a great destination.

rose trees

Croatian islands