After a soggy day in Pula yesterday, we opted for another circuit of the city. It is fetching place, no doubt about it. With waterfront, old quarters and ruins dotted everywhere. Pula is home to a number of Roman ruins, some of the best in Europe. The centrepiece of the city is without a doubt the colosseum but the heart lies a in the old quarters. A nicely proportioned cobbled square surrounded by grand and well preserved building: the truly monumental Temple of Augustus in the Forum. All the area is linked by narrow, ornately decorated buildings. An array of shops and cafes line our path but most of them are deserted as they are just opening their doors.

The castle (1630) built to defend the shipping yard and trade routes into and out of Pula. It is of a French design rather than Roman but at its rear sits a small Roman theatre.  Both of these are worth the ‘climb’ when visiting Pula. We stroll on up and appreciate the views of the city.

On our way down the hill we stumbled across a little church and monastery of St Francis. Nothing too fancy but it had a beautiful atmosphere. As we walk around the cloisters, I find a perch to watch the tortoises. Happily feeding on slices of apple. Inside the church, a young girl is learning to play the accordion. The gentle but old fashioned sound echos through the monastery. Its brings shivers down my spine.

Further down the hill the shops and cafes are full of people. Tourist buses are now in town. In the street and small squares people sit over a coffee or beer and gaze out at the sites. Pondering which place to visit next. We continued on to the Arch of Sergius and a preserved Roman floor mosaic.

Whilst Pula might be large, its old town and tourist sites are reasonable compact. Its easy to navigate on foot, with everything located along the loop that starts and ends at the Pula colosseum.

Several days at Fazana and Pula is just about right.  A nice mix of city, site seeing, beach and fishing village. Where to next? I ask. Craig replies in a squeaky voice “we’re off to see a Lidl, the wonderful Lidl of Ladin…” I chuckle as we rev Vin the motorhome for our next leg of the journey. We roll along and soon we’re amid the countryside. Pleasantly driving through a landscape of small farms and steep wooded hills, beside a shallow river. We stop frequently for photos and toots at isolated hamlets with a population of half a dozen people.

At Lidl we pace the isles and check out the all new Croatian goodies. We just love it when we see stuff that is new, foods we have never heard of before. Always worth exploring for a variation on our evening culinary delights. The trolley soon fills, I am a little perplexed but at check out I discover why. Craig managed to sneak a few extra large bottles of beer and wine in to the shopping trolley when I wasn’t looking. Cheeky chappie!

Back in the motorhome and disaster struck! I knocked a full glass of orange juice everywhere! We mop up and make our way through a roll of kitchen towel. Jeez it was everywhere. Mac n Tosh hid out of the panic whilst we tried to dab every drop. Sticky, sweet orange juice is no good in a motorhome. It just attracts all the ants and bugs and anything that bloody crawls. The last thing we need. We already have several blinking earwigs in hiding since Camp Umag, which constantly freak me out. We’ve managed to catch and kill a few but the others have escaped in to the dark cracks of Vin’s shell.

Smelling like a sweet nectarine we set off. Istria is a lovely peninsula along the Adriatic Sea and it also happens to be the biggest. Up in to the countryside for a bit of greenery. For several miles we didn’t see much of the countryside due to over grown heads and dense forest…not that we are complaining. We slowly climbed in to the hills until we were above the tree line. Looking back we could see the valley floor and huge quarry. Raša quarry is one of several quarries in Istria where they process limestone and stone. Further along the valley and you can see the huge towers and set up of the cement factory.

Normally, we pay by cash but more and more fuel stations are unmanned and automatic. So this trip I am using our new Revolut card as I don’t want to use our personal debit or credit card. The risk with fraud is on the increase and the last thing we need is to have our main account compromised whilst travelling. So instead I am using a virtual current account with multiple currencies. Topping up the card with limited funds means if anyone should steal our card details they don’t get away with much and don’t have access to our main accounts. The Revolut exchange rates are excellent too…much better than our Caxton card. Although using the Revolut App is a little strange and its taking time to get used to it. Early days but here’s hoping it works out.

Back on to the coastal road and we hit the Croatian Rivera. Opatija started as a tiny fishing village with a church and a population of 50 or so. But the glorious coast caught the fancy of Iginio Scarpa, a wealthy Italian businessman. He built the lavish Villa Angiolina and invited all his aristocratic friends for a visit. One by one his friends built bigger and better villas and the coastal retreat became infamous with the rich and famous.

We would have loved to stay but tiny alleys, no motorhome signs and parking spaces the size of postage stamps forced us on. Sometimes things happen for a reason and today is one of those days. We found the most amazing wild camping spot just outside Rijeka (secret spot!).