Brijuni island off Pula

Today I had fun skyping Mum and Irene and Bill. The connection was unreliable but it was still great to talk with them. I am eager to get home now. I went out to scope the dock for the Ferry to Venice tomorrow and the boat to Brijuni island. It started to rain so I took shelter in a restaurant and had a tuna salad even though I had a big breakfast of omelette, yoghurt, juice, toast and jam and coffee.  The weather is rainy and I finally succumbed to a small umbrella and returnrd to the hotel for my windcheaters as it has turned cold. When we set sail the rain becomes a grey sheet and there are torrents of water off the cabin roof. The wind gets up and we are all very cold. The inner cabin is standing room only. If the rain doesn't ease we won't see much. Just as we near the island the rain clears and we can see. There are five hotels and holiday apartments but no one lives permanently on the island apparently. It has a rich history as it was settled by the Illyrians, then the Romans, Italains and then Austrians who built the hotels and created the island as a place for the rich and famous. Tito the president of Yugoslavia made it his summer home and received many famous people. Many countries sent animals as gifts and there was a significant zoo with lions, tigers, cheetahs, chimpanzees, orangatans, elephants and zebras, bears, giraffes, goats, Croatian horses and donkeys, ostriches, and even Australian animals and birds. Most of the animals died of natural causes and have been taxidermied and are on display. The ones who are left are mostly, cattle, zebras, goats, horses, deer and one elephant. They are in open paddocks except for the elephant. It seems a bit sad since it lost its mate. The deer have multiplied and they swim to and from a nearby island! 

Tito is remembered fondly by many people here and the museum of his time on the island is very interesting. He made wine and grew fruit and seemed to do a lot of ordinary things here as well as run the country.

There are the remains of roman ruins with baths and an aqueduct. The island is rich in archeological sites yet to be excavated. There is a golf course and lots of bikes for guests to get around. There is a 15 th C church which had beautiful frescos. We were still cold and glad of the little train that took us around the island because it offered shelter and warmth. I resorted to coffee and cherry strudel to stoke the fire within! 

Fortunately the return trip while windy and cold was fine. Coming into Pula port with the sunset turning the roman amphitheatre pale pink was quite beautiful and striking. 

I am disappointed that I am not able to load any photos since the card reader has failed and the phone is not picking up the wifi for me to transfer photos to the cloud. Sorry..