Gail was exhausted yesterday, so while she sleeps in I am out at 5:00 enjoying the early morning light, cool breeze, and about 6:30 the café conversations, a coffee with milk on the side (A new one on me, I saw another guy get one), watching people go by. Locals walking their dogs, one huge white pooch with the most fluffy tail; the security guards start to lounge by the ATMs, bald guy rides by on white mountain bike, wearing flip-flops he films with his video camera staring at the screen as he rides; laughter breaks out at the next table, a story I sort of followed in German and Italian about another guy and his mama, but the punch line was spoken either in Croatian, or just said so fast I am left out of the fun; two friends walk by arm in arm and the one guy is also walking his bike; oh my god the first tour group marches by: probably 50 tourists (German I think, not American for sure, the Germans always walk purposefully, and this group marches together to the fountain.) a tour group at 7:30? Huh, a jogger (don't see that much); young couple stagger by in each other's arms, kissing, she is blond and dressed up, carrying heels, probably stayed out all night; group in front of me silently watches them, then resume their conversation, group next to me ante up their kuna and head off in four directions, one guy on a scooter; umbrellas flap in the breeze, boats bounce and an occasional mast moves out of the harbour, church bells toll, sun reaches in under the umbrella and kisses the lady in the front table, waiter moves slowly, joking, table to table; I look at my empty cup and contemplate a cappuccino, or just a coffee (straight shot of espresso). A lady bump bumps down a steep cobblestone street on her scooter until she reaches the bottom, as she rolls out onto the plaza she kicks it into gear, the engine fires up and she roars off. Another guy slowly walks his bike up the same street.
I throw down my ten kuna and join the slow flow of people.
After waking Gail we eat a leisurely breakfast; ham, cheese and croissant for me, fruit and yogurt for her, then I head uphill to climb the bell tower. Wooden stairs going up, so old that they have a wide smooth rounded dip worn in the middle. The widest one is about eight inches, the narrowest, four inches. These are squared off tree branches, the knots don't wear as fast, so the steps are kind of knobby. They are attached to the inside walls of the tower, so I climb in a square, up and up with my heels hanging out in space. Later, as I cruise back down on my heels, toes out in space, I am amused by the people creeping up the steps, desperately clutching the handrail.
On top the cool wind is blowing and it is a clear day. I go to the side facing the Adriatic, figure where Venice is and look. I peer. I stare and then use the telephoto on my camera at full power.
No luck. (It hits me: this is Friday the 13th). Venice remains hidden, a misty, wonderful memory. The view over Rovinj, however, is beautiful, a fun jumble of red tile roofs and colorful houses tumbling down the hill. Several islands float just off the coast, and maybe 20km away the church tower in the next town north stares back at me.
I head down, pick up Gail, we hit the book store, grab a water, walk and photograph, then decide to head out to the rock "beach" south of town to swim.
We find a nice cove of mixed pebbly beach and flat rocks, with pine trees for shade, and settle in. The water is just right, cool and refreshing, yet not cold, so I can stand up to my neck for half an hour without getting cold. We also notice that the temperatures have been significantly cooler here; it is still over 35 (high 80s) but with the ocean breeze it is not that dripping-sweat-while-standing-still feeling of Turkey, Greece, Albania and so on. Is it the peninsula area, or have temps just dropped? No matter, it is just so nice to be warm but not soaked.
About 18:00 we head back and shower.
We head out for a fun night of wine and small foods. First stop: Male Madlene, a nondescript little hole in the wall, bypassed by nearly everyone. In fact as we ate, some people would stop and look, but maybe because she does not serve full meals, they walked on by. Ana, the owner, does this as her passion, her hobby. "I am an artist with the food and the visual." and by god she is. I picked three items: Mussels with salsa in the shell, green beans and red pepper wrapped in prosciutto, and shrimp cocktail. Gail had green beans wrapped in cheese, tuna pâté wrapped in zucchini, and goat herb cheese wrapped in pimento. They were beautiful to look at and better to savor. We asked her for a wine, and she paired them with Istrian Malvasia Brajko (white wine). The ocean waves out the window, the fine lacy china, it was all just so perfect. The most delightful little start, 90K, a delightful hour.
Next stop was Valentino, where we climbed down a staircase to the white rocks right at the water's edge. We were offered pads to sit on, or a white wicker couch on a flat area, perhaps a table for two up high. We chose the pads, about five feet off the water. I ordered a margarita, Gail had a fleur rouge. Great world music playing at just the right volume, the sun setting, seagulls crying; truth be told the margarita was lousy, Gail's Moet & Chandon champagne was delicious, but the setting could not be beat. We passed a magical hour watching the colors change in the sky.
Our third stop was a newly opened tapas restaurant, Segutra. We started with a half litre of mineral water, half litre of white wine for Gail, half of red for me. Then we started into the tapas: dried salmon, tuna fish, anchovies carpaccio, smoked pork neck, dried ham, cheese with truffles... I think I am in food heaven. We had a great table looking out over the harbour, and the couple next to us mentioned how they tried to get our table... so as we talked they just sort of moved on over, and we just sort of let them join us. Two hours later, after several return trips to the case to pick out more tapas: Marinated anchovies! Tuna and cheese! Tomato and basil! we bid goodbye to our new friends, Jack and Karen, originally from Seattle, now in Rovinj and Spain. It is ten till midnight as I write this, still at the restaran, a new couple settles in next to us, Italian... wondering where this night will go...
Midnight and the tables are full; as far as I can see the tables are filled at every café, and how many cafés in this town?
Another mezzo litre vino rosso, per favore.