The Beautiful Adriatic

One of the best things about the international schools is break schedule.  Heath and I just returned from a week in Croatia for the midterm break.  Croatia is amazing!  It has a really interesting blend of cultures due to being constantly conquered by the surrounding countries.  We started our trip in Rovinj in the north near the border with Italy.  Rovinj is a pretty seaside town on a small peninsula dominated by a 19th century church.  It was first settled in the Roman times and the stone in the streets dates to 700AD.  Really treacherous with stilettos!  The cappuccinos and gelato were amazing.  We enjoyed sitting outside in the warm sun after chilly England.  The old streets all wind up to the church and there's lots of hidden architectural treasures to be found.  One of my favorite was a tiny church perched right on the cliff.  

This was an abandoned hotel on a little island near Rovinj.

Yes the water is that clear!

From Rovinj we traveled onto the island of Rab.  Rab was absolutely beautiful with four towers in the old town and multiple churches.  It was also empty being the off season.  At one point we were the only people walking around town.  The second day, although warm, a wind picked up that made beach activities out of the question.  We decided to head inland to Zagreb instead.

Looks like Santa Barbara!

We had also been offered a job at the school in Zagreb so it was exciting to get to go check it out.  Zagreb is a really accessible city that gets overlooked sometimes.  The school was in a really nice area.  It is much smaller and not nearly as fancy as Cobham, but it has a very relaxed feeling.  I think we spent most of our time eating because the food was really good and really cheap!  Zagreb has more of an Eastern European feel to it but the cafe culture is universal in Croatia.  Everywhere we went people spent hours sitting out at cafes.  Zagreb felt like a very livable city.

The cemetery in Zagreb decorated for All Souls Night

Our last day was spent in Pula which has one of the largest and best preserved Roman Amphitheaters.  Heath was thrilled!  We also checked out an old Greek theater and a Temple to Augustus.

Heath just isn't sure what he thinks about this shrimp salad!