Saturday, May 30

We decided to take a vacation day.
We started by driving along the coast from Opatija Riviera.   Opatija is a vacation spot that is normally chock full of tourist this time of year, but now is practically empty.  We came here expecting to stay in a hotel, but found none open.  We did rent a little apartment on the hill, however.
  As we drove along, it reminded us of  the early James Bond movies where they had chase scenes along windy roads with rock walls and houses right at the edge of the road.

The road curves constantly, people are walking right next the road, other roads come in and cars just appear like magic from behind houses.  It is definitely a fast-paced experience.  It is also quite beautiful.
As we got farther from the Riviera area, the scenery got better, but the roads remained largely the same for a long, long ways.

This area was part of Italy a couple of generations ago and is highly influenced by Italy. 
There are little patches of beach here and there, and the locals were enjoying them.  We finally got to a stretch where we were driving along the top of the hills and had views of the Mediterranean.

But it seems they've intentionally engineered the roads so that scenic views are not allowed to distract drivers.
Our goal was the town of Pula, which has one the best-preserved Roman Amphitheaters in the World.  It is 6th largest, but is the only one with an intact (more or less) exterior.  FYI, all of them have had their interior structures dismantled as an easy source of building blocks.

The square tower on the corner ahead in this photo is one of four.  Two of them are basically intact.  In Roman days they had wooden staircases in them so patrons could get to the cheap seats easily.
  We were kind of awe-struck by this structure.  We've never been around things so old.  Common in Europe, maybe, but very rare in the U.S. to see something two millennia old.  This one was completed in 50 A.D.

Here is Liz taking a photo of what I'm taking a photo of.  That thing beyond her head is one of the square towers.  Two thousand years ago, Roman gladiators came out here to fight to the death.  BTW, the signs say that at the tops of the towers they had tanks of water, so they could spray scented water out to cover the smell of blood.  Ooooh!
    This amphitheater is unusual in that it is built into the side of a hill.  The seats where Liz is standing was built on the slope, thus saving building material.  It is also unusual in that it is right by the shoreline.  They were able to bring the blocks of stone from the quarry, 6 miles away, by boat.

I think she likes it!
   
We also visited some Roman ruins in town.  We saw the gates of Hercules, which is an accomplishment, I guess, but a bout of diarrhea cut our visit short and we had to head for home.

    The Istrian peninsula is famous for a more humble thing.

This is a little model of a round, domed stone house.  People lived in these hundreds of years ago, and we saw a few of them scattered around the countryside, but we were going too fast to get a photo.  Nowadays they might be used to store tools out at the farm, but it seems nobody actually lives in them anymore.  They are amazingly similar to Navajo Hogans.  I did manage one photo, but the stone house is barely visible behind a dratted flag.

These stone versions are unique to the Istrian peninsula, or so I've heard.  Well, they are still here, and intact, so they must be very strong.  But living in a little, single room, on a dirt floor, no windows, just a hide for a door - no wonder people don't live in them anymore.