Sadly, its our last day in Venice but our ferry does not depart for Rovinj, Croatia until 5:00pm. Rita managed to get a late check-out of 2:00pm so after packing up our suitcases and a hearty breakfast we set off to see if we could get lost in parts of Venice we had not been to before. It was another beautiful sunny day and we had a great time exploring the Arsenale, Giardini and Porto areas before boarding our ferry for the 3.5 hr trip to Rovinj.
We took the water bus from San Marco Square to the Port of Venice and it was a great experience. The cost was 7 Euro per person and you have unlimited use of the water buses for 60 minutes and then you have to purchase another 7 Euro ticket. Our trip was much shorter as it took only about 15 minutes. Once there, we found our ferry and checked in. They took our bags and we had 90 minutes to explore the area and have a coffee by the water. Very civilized.
Our Ferry was a passenger only catamaran but it was very comfortable. We departed on time and we spent the next hour crawling our way out of Venice water space. Once we cleared all the lagoon barriers, the ferry opened up its engines and we made rapid progress. The ferry arrived on time in Rovinj and in darkness. As soon as we got off the ferry, we headed for the nearest bank machine as Croatia is not part of the European Union and has its own currency (the Kuna). By the time we had used the bank machine, all the taxis has gone so we headed around the bay to hopefully find a taxi. After about 10 minutes of walking and no taxis in sight we stopped at a tobacco kiosk and thankfully the woman spoke English. She told us a taxi stand was another 200 meters down the road. We found a taxi and gave him the address. He looked at us in bemused astonishment while talking Croatian and waving his arms. He finally loaded our luggage into the car and we headed off on a two minute ride to our apartment. We did not want him to leave us there before finding our keys to the apartment, which were located in a wooden chest of drawers outside of our unit. This took a few minutes and a several false alarms that included a couple of people who lived there on a permanent basis. One was our next door neighbor who did not appreciate the notion of foreigners waking her up by accidentally ringing her doorbell. We finally found the key, picked up our luggage and paid the taxi driver. The apartment is very clean and spacious. Not as luxurious as the one in Venice but the shower pressure is awesome and we are only a half block from the ocean. Unpacked, sat down and relaxed with a cougnac before heading to bed after a long day of touring and travel.
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