Last day = driving day. On the way, we went to some caves in Slovenia. The Skocjan caves were very big and impressive – but actually the “wrong” ones: we planned to visit some later but were tricked by the road signs again. Then more long hours of driving, some minor traffic jams at construction sites or before tunnels in Austria. Back home at around 8 pm, a lot of unpacking and cleaning. Then dinner and watching the photos.

In total, we nearly drove 2.000 km – and only spent about 500 Euro each. Was worth every Cent!

Change of plans: skip Porec and Piran (in Slovenia) and instead stay another night in Rovinj. Lazy day with swimming, reading and laying in the sun. “Animation” volleyball at 6 pm – was fun but couldn’t play too much unfortunately. Had dinner at the restaurant at the campsite.

Sooo hot in the tent already at 7:30… But when we got up, it started raining and there was some heavy wind. Glad the tent stayed where it was! Started around lunch to Pula. Due to lot of traffic we stopped in Vodnjan first to visit the mummies in the church. Bit disgusting but fascinating. We found a side road into Pula, visited the amphitheatre there and other Roman sights such as an arch, city walls, church and the citadel. With an icecream we finished our tour there, came back to the campsite (on not such a good way – took a big, big detour…) and played beachvolley – first against some “juniors”, then some locals. Øystein also went snorkelling. We didn’t find a disposable bbq so went to Rovinj for dinner again (pasta, for Øystein with truffels) and then walked up to the amazing cathedral.

Glad this day started so much better! We went for a swim and some beachvolley (but didn’t find anyone to play with…) and then packed up. Quick shopping and lunch stop and then off to the west coast of Istria. Stopped in Pazin to visit the medieval castle with the museum and looked for the famous chasm that has inspired Jules Vernes for his books. But apart from sliding down the hill in Flipflops we did not see the place where the water is supposed to disappear… On we went to Rovinj, a beautiful city with its old town on a peninsula. Our campsite just outside the town is more like a resort, really nice with good toilets and showers. Set up the tent in new record time of 17 minutes, and then went for a swim on the rocky coast. After showering (with tokens) we drove to town, had a nice, big fish dinner at the harbour and quickly went to an internet café. What a nice evening! Finished it with chocolate and a torch in front of the tent – and listened to the awfully loud liveband in the restaurant…

Traffic jam at the ferry, how boring… We thought we were clever and get to the ferry relatively early at 9:30 but too many others were that “clever” too. So we started writing postcards… The slow beginning was the start for a not so nice day in total with lots of driving – and arguing… It took us ages to get to Rijeka, then we didn’t find the fortress there until the third round around town. Then on to Opatija where we camped again – on a not at all nice campsite… We walked along the “Longimare”, a promenade along the coast into Opatija, and went for a swim from the rocks. That was nice – until we argued more. What a day…

As we went to bed “so” late the night before, we managed to sleep till 10 this morning. After breakfast, we went to the crowded beach of San Marino for beachvolleyball. Was fun playing some sets there – and even nicer to cool down in the water afterwards. We came back at 6 pm and then had a nice bbq on the balcony.

We went to a beach up north on the peninsula only accessible by foot. That was some climb for about 20 minutes, oh dear…. Flipflops can’t really replace hiking boots! But finally found the “Sahara” beach (although planned to go to another one…) with some people there but ok full. Had some lazy hours there with reading, beachball, swimming and snorkelling. Went back for lunch and then to Rab town. What a pretty place! We walked along the promenade and the “main” road with lots of churches and even more towers to climb for nice views. We had good pizza and then icecream and a cocktail before we went to a concert in a church. It was a choir singing mainly Latin church songs – brilliant! After that, we strolled along the very busy roads back to the car. What a nice day!