Croatian Vacation

With the realization that we have very few sunny and hot months remaining in our European tour, we planned a last minute trip to Croatia from August 20th to the 24th. We found a wonderful, family friendly resort in Poreč, Croatia to spend most of our time. Poreč is a small town of only 12,000 residents, but is the most visited city in Istria. Istria is the triangle-shaped peninsula at the northwestern end of Croatia. Istria is a favorite holiday spot for many Hungarians, Austrians and Italians because of its proximity by car to each of these countries.

Our resort was situated less than a mile from Poreč in a beautiful pine forest next to a quiet cove of the Adriatic Sea. While Caden and I did venture into the ocean for a brief time, slippery rocks and waves were not for a 4-yr-old, so we spent the majority of our time at the resort’s pool. We’ll always have Port Aransas for our sandy beaches back in Texas!

Our stay at the resort included breakfast and dinner, so we spent two full days eating, playing in the multiple pools, lounging, napping and eating more! Our kids are certainly fishes! We also checked the kids into the Kid’s Club for a few hours so Kyle and I could enjoy some quiet time to read and relax by the pool (drinks in hand!) The resort did a great job of catering to families with activities, swim lessons, and evening discos for the kids. While we could not get Caden up from his chair, Miss Reese was highly excited to boogie down!

We did leave the bliss of our resort for a day to explore the town of Poreč and neighboring city of Pula. Poreč’s Old Town is small, but historic. Its major landmark is the 6th century Euphrasian Basilica, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997. The basilica is the last of four churches built on the site from the 4th to 6th centuries. In addition to history, there was tons of shopping (mainly jewelry and souvenirs) and more gelaterias (ice cream) than Caden could imagine.

View of Euphrasian Basilica

View into Poreč across the Adriatic Sea

Bubble Gum Ice Cream!

Just 42 miles south of Poreč is Pula, the largest town in Istria at the most southerly point of the peninsula. It is rumored that Pula existed more than 3,000 years ago and there are many Roman ruins to prove it. The most famous of these ruins is the Arena, an amphitheatre from the 1st century that bears a striking, yet scaled down, resemblance to Rome’s Colosseum. The Arena’s outer wall is almost entirely intact and its chambers have been restored and now house a museum. The Arena is still utilized as a venue for concerts and events and is the sixth largest in the world, holding 23,000 spectators.

1st century Roman Arena in Pula

Temple of Augustus

Other Roman monuments from the 1st century still stand as well, including the Temple of Augustus located on a square that once was the city’s Forum, the Sergi Arch and Hercules Gate. Our stroll past these sites found us in the company of more shopping and more ice cream as well. When in Rome… (OK, smaller version of Rome).

We enjoyed a wonderful family vacation to Croatia and wish we could have seen more of this beautiful country. Unfortunately, I think our family’s max time in the car one-way is 8 hours (which we were just under going there and getting home), so the cities of Dubrovnik and Split will have to wait. All our trip pictures can be viewed here. Enjoy!