In and around Rovinj
We spent Adrian's birthday in Rovinj.
First we walked up to the church of St. Euphemia, which dominates the town
Here I climbed the tower to admire the views.
I found walking down the stairs rather difficult as because I have big feet I had to walk backwards and they kept getting stuck in the gaps between the wooden steps!
We then walked down to the harbour. Rovinj is very beautiful but very hard to walk around not only because it is steep, but also because it is paved with very slippery stones. We both had a couple of near misses!
At the harbour we went on two sightseeing trips by boat.
The first lasted for 90 minutes and was around the islands
A popular spot for newlyweds!
Then we had a fish 'picnic' on board
before setting off on a cruise to the Limski kanal, a 10 km estuary that, because is very narrow, resembles a fjord (in fact it was used as such in the 1958 film "The Vikings" starring Kirk Douglas).
The trip lasted 4 hours with an hour stop at the end of the fjord (where we had ice-cream!) and another stop to visit the pirates' cave (I had a look at the amount of people up those narrow steps and decided to stay on board!)
Back in Rovinj,
we had time for a short rest before climbing up to the restaurant I booked for Adrian's birthday dinner
Monte appears to be the 'top' restaurant both in terms of location and fame in Rovinj, and it was simply fantastic.
A piece of theatre and the food was amazing. (It cost an arm and a leg, but it was worth it).
We first had a Martini rosso under a canopy opposite the restaurant. The maître d' and co-owner look a bit like Robin Wright: elegant, poised and very welcoming.
We chose the 5 course tasting menu accompanied by 5 matching Istrian/Croatian wines and it was all superlative! (We also had 3 amouse bouches, a pre-dessert and some chocolates at the end).
I only have a few pictures as I was too busy enjoying the food, the atmosphere and the company.
("tartar of filet of beef - panko egg - wild mushroom cream")
("tortelloni with nettle - summer mushroom sauce - pine cone seeds - parmesan cheese")
("suckling pig 24h - lentils with pancetta - apple and horse radish")
("pear metamorphosis" - or as we called it, pear 5 ways, and it was out of this world!)