Pula

Although Pula is further south the nights seem colder but the days are around 16 degrees and the long shadows make the whole day feel like a summer evening.

The town is full of Roman remains, ruins seems the wrong word as a lot of this stuff is still standing. For example the Temple in what is still called the Forum, next to the mediaeval town hall.

From there I walked up hill past an old Franciscan monastery.

At the top of the hill was a small castle that allegedly contained a museum, in fact it contained four rooms with signs warning everyone not to photograph the empty whiteboards and piles of plastic chairs. Maybe it was a museum of the last five minutes, still the views were good.

I wandered back past a Roman theatre the archaeology museum (closed), some more Roman arches and a mosaic. Then I spent a few hours being told by various people that there is no bus to Poreč, there is a bus but only at 5.30am on monday, there is a bus but only in summer, there is a bus but you can't get off when it stops in Poreč and finally, from the bus station, that there is a bus and it leaves at 11.30 on sunday morning.

After that it was time to see more of the town so I went to the cathedral

Then an unsignposted archaeological site.

and finally the highlight of the town an almost complete Roman arena.

The display underground said little about the arena but did mention that Roman Istria was a centre for wine and olives and that these are still the main exports.

To round off the day I discovered that I have my own island somewhere nearby.