Istria

We entered Croatia in the evening.  It was the first time we had left the Schengen zone since our arrival to Europe in Christmas of 2010.  We were excited to be in a new area, different from any we had yet visited.  Of course the first thing we saw was this:

I don't know why we always come across signs that say "Montana" when it is already dark and difficult to photograph them.

We worked our way across the entire Istrian peninsula in the dark.  Our destination for the night was Pula in the south.  A young tax auditor had accepted our request - I refer to him as an auditor, because it was apparently his favorite topic of discussion.  Rather, he really liked to complain about his job.

He was pretty cool, and we did talk about other things.  He told us his opinions about Yugoslavia and the current regime.  There was no apparent animosity from him towards Yugoslavian times.  In fact he seemed to be more suspicious of current politics, and acknowledged that things were pretty peaceful for most people before the war.  We would hear these same positions from many people of different ages as we crossed the country.

The next day we went on a walk together through Pula.

There is a very well preserved Roman amphitheater in Pula.  It is so impressive that the Italians during their control of Istria supposedly considered moving it to mainland Italy.

North of Pula is Brijuni National Park.  The park is a set of islands just off the coast of the peninsula.  One of the islands was the summer resort for Josep Broz Tito - the leader of communist Yugoslavia.  This island is lush and green, with all the luxuries one could hope for.  We took the ferry to the island and toured around it. 

I have to admit it is one of the most touristic things we have ever done, but I enjoyed it.

On Brijuni there is a large menagerie - which of course was initiated and expanded upon by Tito.  This includes many zebras and an single lone elephant.   

 

Istria is the only place outside of Puglia where we have seen Truli.  There were only three or four that we spotted while on the peninsula.  It really isn't so surprising that there are Truli there, considering the Italians controlled the area at various points in time.

Along the western coast of Istria there are plenty of cute seaside towns.  We visited several of these colorful ports.