Friday, 21st June, 2019
After yesterday’s delicious dinner at Al Lago, Gerry just fell asleep as soon as we were in bed while I was writing my blog – well to be fair, he’s been doing all the driving so he must be quite exhausted – mind you, the wine may have had some effect too! Anyway, I woke up to the sounds of Peschiera waking up – little trucks delivering their goods, garbage being collected and little old ladies chatting to each other as they went about their errands.
Before starting off on our drive today, we had a scrumptious breakfast at the Palazzo ai Capitani -the staff from this boutique hotel in the middle of the historic town really know how to look after their guests. We were shown the frescoes along the stairwell that were discovered while renovations were being carried out. These date back to the 1500’s.
The view from our room 
Various frescoes dating to 1500’s 
When we were ready to leave, we walked to the gate leading to the bridge outside town and Gerry walked up the hill to pick up the car from the parking area while I waited with our overnight luggage at the gate.
Goodbye to Peschiera de Garda – a delightful historic town!
By 10.15 we were on the road again and we decided to break up the drive to Porec, our first overnight stop in Croatia, by visiting Venice – only 125 km away.
Outside Peschiera we filled up the car as fuel was running low – the prices here in Italy are much higher than back home – we paid €1,44 per liter! Traffic was quite heavy all the way to Venice and by the time we reached the parking garage just outside Piazzale Roma, it was already gone 12 noon. This parking garage has only a Day tariff – €29,00 !
Crossing the bridge leading to Venice 
First glimpse of Venice 
Rooftops as seen from the garage 9th floor 
Starting our Venice walkabout 
Our first gondola sighting
Our walkabout Venice was to reach Piazza San Marco and unlike Nancy, we arrived here in the middle of the day when the city was teeming with tourists – and temperatures had soared up to 35C.
Following the signs and using google maps, it took us some 45 minutes to reach Piazza San Marco. Mind you on the way, we were able to take some beautiful shots of various buildings and canals, however it was ever so difficult to get a good picture of the Cathedral…….
As we had walked some 5.5km, we decided to take the water-bus back to Piazzale Roma – and this was the best decision ever! There were some 8 stops till we reached our destination so it was a comfortable sightseeing trip on the canal – of course the main attraction was the Rialto Bridge!
Back at Piazzale Roma, we first stopped to have a drink – fresh orange juice and cold water – before picking up the car and starting our second leg of our trip – Porec – a 220 km drive through 2 borders.
Flatlands gave way to hills 
Our stop on the Slovenian border 
Vignette bought at the border stuck somewhat crooked
Finally we arrived in Porec well after 6 pm – our overnight stay was in a little studio apartment just off the beach. I was somewhat disappointed as I thought I had booked us in the old town but we were just outside along the beach front. Well as soon as we settled in, we went out for dinner and a stroll around this area which is very touristic – loads of German and Italian tourists. We were so ravenous that I forgot to take pictures of our delicious meal – Gerry had to have his nostalgic- Cevapcici – similar to a kebab, while I had grilled squid……..
By the time we got back to our studio we were dead beat – no late nights for us! We will have to get up on time to visit the old town of Porec in the morning.
Tomorrow we will be driving down to Mali Losinj where we will be meeting up with Gerry’s old friends.
