Rovinj, Croatia. August 5 and 6

We drove from Venice to Rovinj through pouring rain, but luckily the rain stopped right as we were pulling into our campground.  The campground had an amazing view of the city, (as you can see,) and even had hot water and toilet paper!  Rick Steves placed Rovinj #1 for small coastal towns in former Yugoslavia, so we checked it out!  It's located on the Istrian Peninsula and has changed hands numerous times between Italy, Yugoslavia, and now Croatia.  The Venetians controlled the area for centuries and the architecture reflects that era.  For us, highlights of Rovinj were swimming for the first time in salt water for the kids, and meandering through the old city.  On the 6th, we went to Brijuni Islands, which is now a national park, but has a fascinating history.  (Hence, the visit.)  There are signs of Paleolithic habitation (which we didn't see, unfortunately) but we did see Roman ruins.  In recent history, the islands served as a resort for Marshall Tito, the President/Dictator (depends on point of view what his title should be) of Yugoslavia from 1945-1980.  He built some interesting dictator-like things on the island including a safari park.  We toured the safari park on a mini-train and the kids' highlight was watching the elephant go poop.  It looked like a basketball coming out of his butt.  The elephant was a gift to Tito from Indira Gandhi as a symbol of their friendship and shared goals in the non-aligned movement during the Cold War.  There had also been a zoo on the island, but it was closed in 1991 during the Balkan Wars and the animals were moved to safer locations.  It was fascinating to see the empty habitats, and we even went inside one to get a picture of the kids in a former gorilla enclosure.  To me, that was a rare and meaningful opportunity, 23 years after the zoo was closed due to war.  We then headed back to Rovinj for dinner, more swimming, and our second night at the campground.  Our location was beautiful but located right above a busy and loud road, and there was a disco right in the beach.  The kids slept through the noise very well, but I was ready for a hotel.