Senj did not turn out to quite such a good place to park for the night as first appeared. We had a good meal out and then the next morning, when we came to leave, instead for the 40 Kuna we were expecting to pay, based on the various databases I had read, the price was 165 Kuna (€22) for one night on a car park! No wonder the car park was so empty. Either a local campsite owner has brought pressure to bear or Senj have decided to cash in on their nice new car park. Either way any economist will tell you about elasticity of supply and demand and I suspect such a high price for parking may well suppress demand in a town which is already not high on anyone’s tourist itinerary.
We pushed north onto the Istrian Peninsular in torrential rain, which Croatian’s have told us has been the theme of their early summer so far. The weather forecast for the next few days looks excellent, so perhaps their fortunes are about to change.
Our final destination was Bi-Village (44.918967, 13.807158 €18 on ACSI), another Croatian monster camp. It is a little smaller and vaguely more intimate than Camping Rozac, but it still has three restaurants, two sets of swimming pools, a scuba centre and much much more. I’ve even found a place which is showing the Champions League final on Saturday. Luckily they don’t have any stables, because Sarah’s back is only improving very slowly.
With Sarah incapacitated I was the sole representative of Team Basil to set out on bus today to the nearby town of Pula. Pula is a largish town on the coast with a shipbuilding industry and a large harbour. But what it is known for from a tourist viewpoint is it’s Coliseum. The Roman’s conquered the Istrian Peninsular early in their period of dominance, in the 2ndCentury BC.
The Coliseum is a very complete example and dates from the 1stCentury BC. It is the finest surviving example of Roman architecture in Croatia, but despite this UNESCO has refused to list it twice, apparently. They don’t just hand out World Heritage Status like smarties (although you wouldn’t know it from some of the World Heritage Sites we’ve visited!).
The harbour area is not particularly attractive and its Venetian era fortress is run of the mill. There is an impressive surviving Roman Triumphal Arch and the some very partial remains of a Roman Theatre. The one other site I was looking forward to seeing was the interior of the Romanesque Cathedral, which was built on the site of a Roman Temple and contains some of its original sixth century construction, but for reasons that were unclear it was shut.
Having explored Split and Trogir, Pula didn’t really live up to the expectations I had for it, but it is certainly an interesting town in a pretty coastal location. Unfortunately, because of Sarah’s back, we are unlikely to be able to compare it with its Istrian neighbours of Rovinj and Porec.
Our current plans are to stay on this site a few days in order to allow time for Sarah’s back to heal and to enjoy the promised sunshine. I will not write any more posts until either something of vague interest occurs or we move on.
