Well, here we are on day three of our voyage, dropping anchor in Rovinj, Croatia.  Fortunately we’re in the harbor, so the anchor fell into the water when it was dropped.  (Dropping the dang thing on the pier causes all sorts of problems)  Rovinj is a lovely port, but is often confused with Revenge, Croatia.  (I hear that Revenge is sweet, but I haven’t been there.)  In any case, we are in Rovinj, which bills itself as “The Jewel of Dalmatia.”  These Dalmatian towns are quite nice, but I don’t think there are 102 of them, and I haven’t met anybody named Cruella De Vil.  (Just saying)  Our first stop was a Roman-built castle, (hence the moats) and then it was off to a local farm.  (The goats)  The locals (here we have the Croats) were very friendly and gracious, and very proud of their charming city.

Since walking is known to cause physical exhaustion, I immediately rented an electric scooter (photo attached) and took off for the city’s main attraction, St. Euphemia Church.  The bell tower of the church is modeled after the tower of St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice.  (See, I told you those damn Venetians got around!)  The church was built in 1736, which makes it about 40 years older than the United States!  I was tempted to scooter over to Pula, but it was a bit too far.  (Pula is home to the world’s sixth-largest surviving Roman amphitheater, and was constructed at the time of the Colosseum in Rome.)

After a small Croatian snack, I puttered south of the city to the “Golden Cape,” which is also known as Punta Corrente Forest Park.  This natural park contained a beautiful beach, and for those who were fit, offered hiking, biking, rock climbing, swimming, and snorkeling.  (I rented a lounge chair and took some photographs of scantily clad Croatia chicks.)

The highlight of our stop (for me) was visiting a local farm and chatting with a goat rancher.  Did you know that a baby goat is called a kid?  If you have a lots of kids, you hire a nanny goat.  (No “kidding!”)  The rancher’s wife raised lambs.  Believe it or not, her name was Mary.  Yeah, she had a little lamb, but some big ones, too.  They offered us some mutton for lunch, but I didn’t care for the aroma, so I just drank wine.  (Do you think the plural of mutton is mitten?)  All in all, Rovinj was a wonderful stop, and I would definitely recommend a visit.

However…. I wouldn’t recommend the Air and Space Museum.  (There was nothing there but air and space!)  For some reason, the museum insisted on playing (loudly) Barry Manilow music.  By the way, did you know the if you play a Barry Manilow song backwards, you’ll hear a message from the devil?  Even worse, if you play if forward, you’ll hear Barry Manilow!

By the way, my trip to Florida was cancelled due to the arrival of Hurricane Michael.  Just as well.  We were having all sorts of problems with our flight.  The first time we took off, we got halfway across the gulf when we ran out of gas and had to turn back.  They filled up the plane and we were just about to land in Ft. Lauderdale when we ran out of gas again.  So we turned back, but this time we took plenty of gas.  Well, what do you think happened?  We were just about to land, maybe three or four feet away, when the pilot realized that he’d forgotten the plane!  (If this sounds like a Marx Brothers’ routine, you’re right!)

And on that note of frivolity, I shall take my leave…  I hope you all have a pleasant and peaceful week!  Love to all,

Doc Yanoff