The Coast Between Rovinj and Pula

On the beginning of the second day, the first stop is leaving the car in the parking space right before the Zlatni Park, since it is a pedestrian area.

The Zlatni Park is the most important park-forest alongside the northeast Adriatic coast.
Its history dates back to the 19th century, when Georg Hütterott bought four islands of the Rovinj archipelago and reclaimed a portion of 90 hectares of nature to build a thermal complex.
Unfortunately, he died during the project, and it was never finished, but still made a great contribution to the local area, by becoming one of the most important natural reserve of the Istrian coast.
It is renowned not just for its dense flora, but also for its several beautiful bays and beaches, which surround the peninsula.

Speaking of beaches, there is Skaraba Beach, one of the wildest areas of Zlatni Park.
It is a quiet rocky bay, which extends along the coast with an extremity where it's possible to find flat rocks and lay in the sun.
Its jagged nature is wonderful for dive lovers, who can jump from the cliffs into the water, and also to explore the sea bottom.

Time to get back the car and reach the restaurant for lunch!

The lunch break is at Agritourism Mofardin, a lovely place in the nature, whose motto is "no stress".
This statement definitely describes the peaceful and restoring atmosphere you will find, perfect after a day exploring around.
In addition to this environment, the restaurant offers a menu of typical Istrian products, such as lamb and roast pig cooked in the wood-fire oven and under the traditional "peka". But you will also find a good choice of fresh fish, since the coast is just a few minutes away.
Opening times: Wednesday – Monday: 12 pm - 10 pm Tuesday: closed
To book a table or ask for any info, you can reach their website.

After the restoring lunch in the countryside, you will arrive in Fazana, where you can leave the car in the public parking space close to the little port, and go take the ferry to Brijuni National Park.

To reach the beautiful Brijuni National Park you can take the boat in Fazana port, that in about 15 minutes will take you to the island.
The timetable of the departures to and from the island vary according to seasons, so it is better to check the website in advance.
The tickets can be purchased on site in Fazana port and also online.
The price of the ticket includes the round trip to Brijuni, a guided tour of the main island, touristic train and the entrance to the safari park.

The Brijuni National park is a stunning marine area which includes 14 islands in an archipelago located to the north-west of the city of Pula.
Their "precious" history dates back to 1893, when Paul Kupelwieser, a rich industrial entrepreneur, bought the islands with the idea to transform them into a luxurious holiday complex.
In the 1983 the archipelago became National Park and all the hotels, once reserved to the illustrious guests, are today open also to the tourists who want to experience a peaceful and high-class vacation.
The island open to the visitors is the bigger one, the Veliki Brijun, which hosts several attractions such as a Safari Park, the Mediterranean Garden, an archaeological site and dinosaurs footprints too. Besides, there are restaurants, tennis and golf camps, and a cycling trail.

Here you will start your journey on the island.
One of the first stops is the oldest olive tree of the Mediterranean. According to the analysis of its cortex, the tree is 1600 years old! With a height of 6 meters and a foliage of 22 meters.
Today the tree still produces oil. In fact, the olives harvesting starts during the month of October, and produces about 4 liters of oil.

On the next stop you have the beautiful Mediterranean Garden.
Founded in 2007, today the garden hosts almost 170 different species of autochthonous and exotic plants, that are beautifully put in this modern landscape thanks to the work of Paul Kupelwieser and Alois Zuffar (Alojz Čufar), who created the first planned and designed Mediterranean park of Europe.

On the way, you will now encounter the Byzantine Castrum, which is part of the archaeological site of the Brijuni Island.
This is "the richest site" in its strata, as mentioned in the tourist info about the park because it contains ruins from different periods and kingdoms: Roman Republic and Empire, Byzantium, Goths, Carolingian and also Venetian, as the Republic settled for a long time its domain on the Croatian peninsula.
Inside the site you can find ruins of a Villa with an adjacent part of courtyard for olive and wine production, which later on transformed into a community-like houses settlement and activities.

In the Castrum there are also the ruins of the ancient St. Mary Basilica, the worship place for the inhabitants.
Its origins date back to the time between the 5th and the 6th century, and today it is still possible to see the original side walls of the ancient three nave building.
There is also the presence of an early Christian cemetery in the open front of the Church, which is about 300 meters long.
After visiting the church, get a taxi to get to the next destination.

Reaching north, one of the last stops is the Safari Park.
It is a 9 hectares surface inhabited by autochthonous Istrian fauna, which includes Istrian sheep (Istrian "Pramenka"), donkeys and goats, and exotic South American, African and Asian animal species, among which there is the presence of an Indian elephant, llmas from the Ande Cordilleras, a white albino peacock, ostriches, the steppe and mountain zebra, received as a gift from Guinea.

Time to go back to the mainland and enjoy the little city of Fazana.

Docking to the mainland, it is a must to visit the tiny historical center of Fazana.
Besides being a fisherman village, the historical center hosts also particular houses that are built on two floors and have a door that faces the sea, one in the back of the building and another that communicates with the neighborhood house on the side.
In this way, during the assaults in the past, they served almost like a fortress.
Another interesting presence in the city, is the tiniest street of the country, called Swallow Street, in Italian La Rondinella, according to a legend that it was so small that no one could cross it, if not the little swallow bird.

Last but not least stop is dinner at Korta Restaurant, a lovely place right on the boardwalk.
As you probably noticed during your route, Croatia offers a wide variety of both meat and fish grill tradition, and the Korta restaurant is definitely the place to try them out.
Opening times: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday: 11 am - 11 pm Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday: 12 pm - 11 pm
To make a reservation, you can call +385 91 600 0040.

Before leaving, take the car from the parking space you checked in at the arrival.