Sunday Scaries

June 29, 2026

Sunday: Rovinj-Pula-Plitvice

Croatia wins!

Not that I know anything about the World Cup “bracket”, but I’m glad to know that USA, Algeria, and Croatia have made it to the next round.

We said our final goodbyes to Rovinj, getting lost one more time. I think the stairway to our room/apartment was like the Room of Requirement in Harry Potter. If you think about it real hard, it appears, in a different location each time.

So in Rovinj, we had to park our car outside the city and then a hotel colleague came to pick us up. Two nights ago, it was Maria. This time to go back to the car, it was Maria’s son. We didn’t catch his name exactly - something delightfully Croatian. We stood and talked to him another 45 minutes after we reached our car. He was lovely and we offered him our guest room if he ever decides to visit Kansas. It’s on his bucket list to visit the cowboys in the USA, lol.

Our next stop was 20ish miles away in Pula.

In this city was a very well preserved Roman coliseum, a temple, and some old churches. The coliseum had David Byrne (formerly) from the Talking Heads was performing that night. They were setting up for sound check while we were there.

Visited the super hot temple and then had some lunch. Salmon and black risotto and vegetables for me. The vegetables were awesome and the server explained to hubs how to cook them at home. He also deboned hubbys sea bass right there at the table. I drank my weight in water. It feels just fine in the shade, but direct sun is OPPRESSIVE.

“I crave star damage”, she says, sarcastically.

At this point, I was thoroughly heat-exhausted and we decided to visit one church (which turned out not open for visitors) and then got in the car for 3 hrs to Plitvice, which was mostly a smooth trip.

Gas stations: U.S.A. needs to up their gas station game. We noticed this in Germany too on our last trip. Gas stations are luxurious cafes, practically spas, compared to our Kwik Shop or Casey’s (I like Casey’s, fyi). I would eat a European gas station sandwich anyday of my life.

The final 45 minutes to Plitvice was mountain roads.

You guys, I think Opal is trying to kill me. My 2nd tearful meltdown of the trip (that’s about average for Heather International travel). Popped in the Dramamine. The constant changing elevation in the car has been giving me headaches. Then I started to worry about the next two days, national parks with mountain roads. A weird anxious version of the Sunday Scaries. After tearfully discussing it, I think we decided to skip the waterfall hikes portion in Krka on Tuesday and just go straight to the planned monastery. Two days in a row of waterfall hikes might be too much after all this star damage. I’m excited about this: it’s on a tiny island surrounded by trees in the middle of the lake.

I pulled myself together and we entered our place for the night. We were greeted by our bubbly host who talked our ears off about recommendations for dinner, etc. We had dinner at the neighbors house essentially. Grilled meats and vegetables. Salad. And the best French fries next to a setting sun, mountains, and a pool. We took a nice easy walk after dinner and then I headed straight to bed.