Pula was a surprise. Partly because we got up at 6am to drive there to catch a 8am ferry to Venice, which we managed to miss by minutes… Croatia’s cities are fairly easy to get lost in!
Since we arrived so early we decided to wander into the old town and find breakfast and a coffee. Remarkably difficult to do apparently! We ended up eating ham and cheese (fairly common breakfast food) which tasted like it had been sitting there for a few days. Oh well, it did let us discover the Temple of Augustus in the piazza (see above) a 2BC temple built to honour Caesar Augustus. It’s actually still in use – it houses a very small collection of ancient artefacts. The neighbouring building is made up of remnants of the identical Temple of Diana and a large main temple. The Temple of Diana is still visible, and has been incorporated into the back of the big building you can see in the above and below pictures on the left.
Second, absolutely amazing building, was the Pula Amphitheatre. It is the 6th largest built, and one of four in Croatia, the only one remaining of four originally built. It is about 2000 years old, and has withstood not only World War II, but Venetian takeover, and various attempts to deconstruct it or use the stones for building other buildings. It still gets used for concerts but was originally the site of gladiator fights, wild animal battles and Christians’ grizzly deaths.
Underneath are still some of the connecting tunnels and rooms where animals and those waiting execution were kept. Now they house a museum dedicated to the Roman production of olive oil and wine in the region. Dozens of broken amphorae line the walls.
And last but certainly not least, this huge (yet small) Roman theatre was at the back of the high school. Local kids were hanging out drinking on two thousand year old ruins, and Nana and I clambered up the top to have a view over the town from an old fort. Pula is definitely a must see.
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