Oh No Not More Steps!!

Our hosts in Roc recommended a visit to Groznjan, a hill top town slightly to the North. This town has been taken over by artists. Studios were everywhere, unfortunately only one or two were open. In one of these we met Marko Brajkovic who showed us all 3 floors of his paintings and never stopped talking, a fascinating person who has had exibitions all over the world. Unfortunately again his original works go for upwards of $20,000, and Max is not big enough to carry one home!! He believes , why paint anywhere else if you can paint in Croatia. We wandered, taking in coffee, around the town which so far is one of our favourites. Even the carved man in the wall approved of us.

Onwards and upwards, or should we say downwards as our next stop was the Baredine caves, approx 270 steps down, the bottom of the cave was about 130m deep. A fantastic series of chambers full of stalactites and stalagmites, and in the very bottom an Olm. This creature can only be found in this part of the world and has adapted to continuous life in underground water. It has no visable eyes, red gills and transparent body. It can live 100 years and sometimes feeds only every 8 years. And we saw one!! Got a picture which you can see when we get home.

The Eurasian basilica in Porec dates back to the 6thC and drips with intricate mosaics. It also has 4 bells at the top of a very tall tower with a lot of wooden steps. Porec is a gorgeous seaside town which sells fabulous ice cream which we really appreciated in the 15° sunshine.

We’re in Pula tonight in a very large apartment with, you guessed it, lots of steps to the second floor. Will tell you all about the amphitheatre tomorrow.