Author: Sara

We started the day with another big breakfast, and Sara managed to start on lunch too by accidentally eating a spinach and feta pastry that was masquerading as a pain au raisin…whoops! We then left in search of one of the ‘best beaches in Istria’, as described by a newspaper article we’d read before our trip. The coastline was beautiful but we were disappointed by the total lack of actual beach or anywhere to lie down. The coves it described were literally metres deep and often shady, so we continued to walk round the headland and found ourselves some flat rocks to settle on. We had a quick paddle (S) and full on swim (O) as well as a quiet time reading in the sun. After a few hours of relaxation, we started to get hungry so headed back to town to find some food. The restaurants around the marina were so touristy and could have been anywhere, so we weren’t keen to stop and it took two circuits to decide on a restaurant, which was still really disappointing. We both had pasta dishes and Sara had a long-dead insect in her drink, so we didn’t linger long. We stopped again soon after to cheer ourselves up with ice cream sundaes. Sara chose a ‘Malaga cup’ hoping to get something akin to a caramel sundae as the picture suggested, but she ended up with something very rummy. It was tasty, but she felt a bit tipsy afterwards! Oli’s was also a surprise – he’d picked a strawberry ‘spaghetti cup’, but found banana ice cream lurking at the bottom…yuck!

Wanting to get away from the touristy marina, we picked up supplies from a supermarket for the next day and walked back to the B&B for a siesta. We went for dinner at a restaurant recommended by our nice (but slightly eccentric) B&B lady. This was much more successful! We ate inside surrounded by ‘treasures’, which were bits and bobs of every description – such as clocks, guitars, old ship compasses, teddy bears etc…and had much friendlier service.

After our meal we stepped outside and were nearly run over by three hilarious and drunken men on fold-up bicycles who wobbled and swerved their way down the cobbled streets, which really made us laugh! We had a quick wander round the lovely quiet back streets but soon headed home for bed.

We woke up to another beautiful morning – our last in Piran, and had our breakfast in the garden. We’d been told the day before that we would be the only guests, and it was lovely! It was really peaceful sitting in the shade. We checked out for our last stroll around the town, but left our bags in the B&B – our bus was not until 4.25pm. First, we took a coastal path we’d seen the day before down to a rocky and quiet beach on the other side of the headland. We spent the morning sitting on big rocks with our toes in the lovely clear water and admiring the views. We think we could see all the way into Italy.

As we were so impressed by yesterday’s pizza, we went back for lunch, convincing ourselves it was just because we needed to fill up before our late-ish bus journey. It was another delicious meal, Oli had bolognese pizza and Sara had vegetarian. Yummy! The sun was still shining and it was really hot so we decided against going into the aquarium or the museum. Instead, we spent an extremely lazy afternoon wandering the promenade and sunbathing, waiting for our bus.

At 3.30pm, we went to get our bags from the B&B and had a bit of a panic when no one answered the door! A long five minutes later, the lady arrived to our great relief. In the end, we retrieved our bags in plenty of time and began an anxious wait for our bus – there was only one daily so we accosted every bus driver we could possibly find to make sure we didn’t miss it. After all the worry, we found it with no problems at all as it was clearly labelled, unlike some of the others. We hopped aboard and began our two and a half hour bus ride, which was a little warmer than we would have liked. Sara was feeling quite poorly, so Oli was on full fanning duty. After arriving in Rovinj, we took a while to find our bearings, but using our hand-written directions we got to our B&B even though there were no road signs anywhere! We were greeted with a very warm welcome, and discovered we’d been given a two-bedroom apartment complete with kitchen, lounge and huge bathroom rather than the double room we’d booked. Very nice! We were both pretty tired (somehow, despite our lazy day), so we had a quick dinner by the marina and then an early night.

We woke up hopeful that the weather would have improved and were really disappointed when it was still grey and rainy outside. After a nice breakfast in the B&B, we got wrapped up once again for our day in Piran. As soon as we had left the sky started to clear, and when we reached the Cathedral we saw our first bit of sun which made us extremely excited!

Piran was so picturesque with cobbles everywhere, but this had its drawbacks as Sara stubbed her toe really badly 🙁 Even so, we were all smiles as the clouds disappeared and the weather got better and better. We wandered around the town to see all of its main sights, and then stopped for a delicious (and enormous) lunch in a busy pizzeria. Oli’s pizza was a dream come true, with chips on top!

By the time we left, all evidence of the storm had disappeared and the sky was a gorgeous blue.

We popped back to the B&B for a quick change of clothes and then spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the sunshine by paddling in the amazingly clear sea and eating ice cream next to the marina.

We really couldn’t believe our luck, we thought the rain would never end. Piran was beautiful in the rain, but even more so in the sun – like a cross between Venice and Padstow. We seemed to get the best of both worlds – it was quiet as it was the end of the season, but the weather was like summer.

Later, we had another seafood dinner while spying on the couple next to us who managed to drink their way through their own three-course feast of beer, white and red wine. Wow!