butter – Energy and Time

Croatia days 50-52: Poreč, Pula

October 8th: In the morning, I stayed home while Carol went to a local cave, the Baredine Jama-Grotta.

The cave is home to a species of eyeless albino salamanders, the olm or proteus (*Proteus anguinus*).

In the evening, we explored downtown Poreč a little.

We wanted to try the Chili “fusion streetfood” restaurant for dinner, but they were closed.

So we ate at Tunaholic Fish Bar instead.

I had the Sardines Maximus fish and chips, and Carol got the Tunaholic Burger (tuna steak on black burger bun with wasabi mayo, iceberg lettuce, onion jam, zucchini, rucola, tomato, parmigiano, bean sprouts, and balsamic cream). She said it was amazing.

After dinner we walked around the 6th century Euphrasian Basilica.

“HIGH VOLTAGE / ATTENTION / LIFE THREATENING” I have become a connoisseur of high voltage warning signs, as I will need many for my experiment. I wasn’t expecting to see one in a 6th century building though. You can tell this one is serious because of the skull. 🙂

October 9th: Stopped at a roadside store and bought some local cheese.

They had a free tower you could climb to see the river.

Then we stopped in Pula for lunch. They have a Roman amphitheater.

There were other Roman ruins dotted around the town as well.

entrance to the “Zerostrasse” tunnels and catacombs

the Hercules gate … I think … named for the head on the arch

Then we went to the park on the peninsula. It had a cheezy dinosaur hike.

*Velociraptor*. These aren’t found locally, but are popular because of Jurassic Park.

*Tyrannosaurus rex*. Also not local, but Jurassic Park.

A giant ant. Presumably they have switched movies to Them! (1954).

It was very windy at the park, so after that hike we mostly stayed in the car and drove around.

Dinner was risotto, vegetables, and pork chops.

October 10th: Rainy and we had to drive to Ljubljana to return the rental car. So not much to show except for lunch and dinner.

Dinner in Ljubljana was at Das Ist Walter, a Sarajevo-style Bosnian grill. I think we had prebranac (a Bosnian bean soup topped with whipped butter) with lepinja (a flatbread).

Croatia days 30-31: Zagreb

September 18th: Mostly a rest day. For lunch, we headed for a Curry Bowl restaurant only to find that it had apparently been abandoned years ago and its patio overgrown. (Online photos of the place showed tables where those bushes are now.)

So we went to a nearby sushi restaurant instead. The fish was very fresh.

Carol chose 3 rolls. Probably a better deal.

September 19th: Breakfast at the bakery by the bus station. I went (uncharacteristically) for pizza while Carol grabbed a slice of cheese pie.

Then we took an Uber up to the Gornji Grad (“Upper Town”) section of old Zagreb. And I do mean “up”.

It’s higher than the rooftops of most of the rest of the city, and has great views.

It’s such a steep drop that there’s a cog railway spanning it.

We wanted to see the Museum Of Naive Art, but it was closed. So we spent quite a while in the Museum Of Broken Relationships.

Then we just cruised around the neighborhood for a bit.

I thought I saw a tiny hummingbird in a flower bed, and spent several minutes trying to catch a photo of it. This blurry image is about the best I could do. But I now think that it was probably a hummingbird hawk-moth (Macroglossum stellatarum).