Rovinj

The journey from Ljubljana to Rovinj took a little over 3 hours and the driver was nice enough ( for a five euro "tip") to drop us off at our hotel, saving us a bit of a walk from the bus station.
 The town itself is quite small and has been described as Venice without the canals. Situated on the edge of the Adriatic it seems to draw a mixed crowd of tourists from all over Europe.
 Originally an island a few hundred feet offshore, the passage was ultimately filled in with rocks and rubble in the mid 1700's so now the town divided into the original Old Town, an adjacent section with all the boat docks, restaurants and tourist shops and the modern town which has spread out from the original island.
 The main tourist attraction is the Church of St Euphemia. Located at the top of a steep walk from sea level ir's spire and the adjacent tower can be seen from most areas of the central town. Built in 1754 the history of the Saint goes back to the time of the Roman emperor Diocletian. I'll spare you the details but the Saimts remains eventually arrived in Rovins some hundreds of years after her death and are stored in a sarcophagus behind the alter. Today (Sept 16th) marks her Holy Day in the town, but we did not stay to observe them as we were leaving town quite early.
 While there are other specific sites to visit, the town itself is a cluster of narrow winding streets with slippery polished cobblestones that might prove deadly in rain,
 Along the seafront, bars and restaurants compete for business with the seafood platter for two serving as the main differentiator. Going for upwards of $80 in some places, we were pleased when the wife at our apartment rental suggested a more reasonable place off a small side street.
 Thursday morning we picked up our "subcompact" rental car which turned out to be a full size BMW diesel with most of the toys. The planned stop was the town of Pula, some 30km sough. It's claims to fame are a fully intact Roman Amphitheater and a temple  dedicated to Hadrian (Roman God of really shitty groceries back when I was 12!) The amphitheatre even allowed an underground tour showing where the potential victims hung out getting slightly sizzled while they anticipated their next  and perhaps final battle,
 Following our views of the Roman "stuff" we we wandered through various museums, Art galleries etc. before heading back to Roinj where we parked the car for the night, unsure of the penalties of DUI in Croatia.
 Dinner tonight at La Vela was a massive plate of mussels, a half litre of local Plonc and two more seafood dishes for our mains.
  A lengthy walk along the waterfront usurped we were ready for bed by the time we returned home to pack. Packing was ultimately abandoned for Friday morning as I decided that route planning  and sleep were our first priorities.
 The route across Croatia took us somewhat over 4 hours due to slow winding roads at the outset.
 Once we escaped the confines around Rovinj the road became divided and ultimately divided toll expressway. With mountain tunnels at several points, one exceeding 5km in length, it was an interesting route with mountains to the north and sea views to the south, although at 130-140 kph I was catching few side views.
 At the divide between Istria and central Croatia we encountered several downpours that reduced visibility and therefore speed by a great deal. The road continued to indicate both the towns of Zagreb and Split for so long that I thought we might be on the wrong road.
 Eventually the road to Split did split off and I began looking for my turn to the south.
 Pulling into a gas station for a quick break ( note the car had no GPS) I fired up a copy of Google offline maps which showed me that my turn off was back up the road along which I had come and there was no turning around for at least 15km. Damn! Damn! Damn!