Whilst in Istria we visited the coastal town of Rovinj. It has a very Italian feel with pretty pastel coloured buildings and a large marina. We sat in one of the many cafés along the waterfront, sipping on coffee and nibbling on croissants, one morning during our trip around Istria. It’s a bustling town in the summer, overwhelmed by tourists but you’ll still find a table at any time of the day.
I would highly recommend a walk around Rovinj’s beautiful old town. It has stunning steep narrow alleyways, lined with buildings that have stood there for centuries. There are archways around every corner and pretty bougainvillea trailing up many of the houses. It’s all pedestrianised but be warned the cobbled streets are hard to walk down as they have been polished by many feet over the years.
I don’t often talk about the negative (I much prefer to focus on the positive) but I’d rather warn you in case you plan to visit, that it’s not somewhere I would return to for dinner. I booked a table in the old town one evening at a restaurant that was, in all honesty, all about the view. I hadn’t checked the reviews and, had I, would have thought twice. The staff were so rude when we got there (unlike the experiences we had throughout the rest of Istria, I hasten to mention) and, to cut a long story short, after being called a liar and having water thrown over me, we didn’t eat there. My experience in another restaurant in Rovinj was not much better. This is a tourist town and being so busy the restaurants seemed to see us for the money we would spend.
I wish we’d had time to visit:
Mediterraneo
A chilled little bar/café with a stunning view over the sea and great reviews
Hotel Adriatic
A dreamy minimalist hotel with a simple palette of white and grey, with pops of green-gold
