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We woke up too early today. We had a really hot night & just couldn't lie in bed so relaxation was where the day started. It was quite cool outside so we sat & drank tea whilst enjoying the cool breeze.
We headed off into Pula to check out the colosseum known as the amphitheatre & the other roman buildings & ruins. We were blown away - the size of the amphitheatre was astounding. Every wall is intact even though some sections up high have broken away. Currently Pula is celebrating its annual film festival & they use the amphitheatre to show 2 films each night. There are a range of buildings, arches & gates throughout the old part of this city. We decided to have lunch in the old city. We ordered a 500mL beer & white bait & cabbage salad. When the salad came out, it wasn't dressed & as I asked in Croatian if it was dressed or not, the waiter had already started to walk away & John noticed him stop & turn around in shock. He obviously didn't expect me to speak Croatian. He confirmed the salad wasn't dressed & immediately asked if I would like olive oil rather than the bland colourless oil that was at the table. When the fish came out it smelled like the ocean & was absolutely superb. White bait is a speciality in the Adriatic & they did it well at this restaurant.
John & I walked until our legs felt like lead weights. We discovered that the old city had 1km of underground tunnels named 'zerostrasse' that were constructed as bunkers during WW1. There were 4 entrance/exit points & these tunnels met in the centre & there were rooms off the sides - we enjoyed our walk through them as they were very cool. WE found an art exhibition down one of the tunnels & another tunnel had a full display of photographs depicting the 60 years of Pula film festivals from the first in 1954 right though to 2014.
By mid-afternoon we made our way back to the amphitheatre & paid an entry fee to explore it from the inside. Wow! It was even more impressive from the inside. One small section had been cleaned & the stone looked white. The concrete seating that remained from a semi-circle & the film screen was set up opposite this with vast seating set up in front. The steps that we climbed were incredibly large, considering the people of the time would have been much shorter than we are. The roove of the rooms where the animals & gladiators were housed had collapsed; however, the tunnel system underground was in excellent condition & was used to house many artefacts of the roman era. The first emperor was Augustus 31BC - 14AD & the amphitheatre was built during his reign.
We finally made it back 'home' about 7:30pm, had a couple of icy beers, and went for a swim & headed back into the old city to see the difference at night time. The whole city was buzzing with people & the traffic was more intense than during the day - the temp was still around 30 degrees.
Unfortunately we couldn't see the amphitheatre lit up at night as the films were already being shown. We will try again tomorrow night as the first film starts at 10pm. We did see the cranes at the docks that are lit up at night - quite specky.
A huge day.
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