Rovinj – photo walk through the romantic old town

Picturesque Rovinj is one of those towns that effortlessly provide pretty photo opportunities from all sides. And because these photos caught my eye in my Instagram stream, I put the town on my list of travel ideas for 2016. Last November, the time had come – we traveled to Istria for a long weekend, tasted all the local delicacies and sped from one pretty place to the next. For Rovinj we had planned a good half day. Plenty of time to wander aimlessly through the maze of alleys of the small town. And since, as expected, Rovinj provided us with so many photo motifs within a very short time, I will take you on a pictorial walk through the Adriatic coastal city in this post.

If you walk through Rovinj, you will discover various marked photo points. These are always set up where the city presents itself from a particularly photogenic side. Coming from the north, we parked our car in the large parking lot on the “Obala palih boraca” street (right by the sea) and immediately took the first pictures. In my opinion, this is the best side of Rovinj.

With the first postcard pictures in the box, we walked to the harbour on the opposite side of the circular old town centre at the start of the old town tour. One of Rovinj’s specialties are the so-called “batana” boats. These traditional flat-bottomed fishing boats bob around in the harbour (although it is not easy to distinguish them from the other boats with an untrained eye). Vis-à-vis the harbour facility, the Batana Eco-Museum is dedicated to this exciting topic, which was classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO at the end of 2016. At Veliki Mol there is one of these marked photo points. We then briefly dived into the maze of alleys on the left and then walked up the alley running parallel to the coast to the church of St. Euphemia. The few meters in altitude are always worth it, as there is a great panoramic view of the coastal landscape and the old town buildings from above.

Via Grisia Street we let ourselves drift back into the world of alleys. The alley is lined with numerous studios and galleries and is transformed into a unique open-air art exhibition once a year (in August). Artists from all over the world then exhibit their works of art along the walls, stairs, doors and windows – an event that attracts thousands of tourists and art lovers. At the beginning of November, things were much more leisurely – luckily! If you appreciate being able to walk through the alleys of the old town alone and not avoid the crowds of tourists, you should definitely travel here in the off-season. It’s worth it.

Note: Our stay in Rovinj took place as part of a research trip supported by the Croatian National Tourist Board and Istrian Tourism. As always, all impressions are ours