Rovinj Surroundings

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Zlatni rt and the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy

Imagine a blend of the Alps and the Mediterranean, the Alpine pine, oak and the sea, a large park forest shaped in accordance with the environmentally friendly Austro-Hungarian landscaping tradition from the beginning of the 20th century.

Austrian counts of the Hutterot family used to own what is today perhaps the most significant garden area on the Adriatic coast. With more than a thousand domestic plant species, this wondrous, hundred-year-old forest is also home to foreign species such as oak, pine and cypress trees. The Zlatni rt Park Forest (Punta corrente) includes a network of highly maintained walking paths and field trails leading through the forest and along the sea and hides a small quarry that today serves as a climbing practice area.

Palud and Birds

The Zlatni rt Park Forest is not the only place where one can see unusual specimens of plant and animal life.

The Palud cove with the first and only specialized ornithological reserve in Istria is located in a protected silence, eight kilometers southwest of the center of the town. What seems to be a dead wetland area is, according to the records of ornithologists, home to more than 200 bird species, from domestic pheasants and quails to wild ducks, grebes, woodpeckers and many other. In the northern part of the wetland there is a real jungle with enormous willow trees.

Undersea World and the Baron Gautsch

Rovinj offers something for all - recreational divers, more eager undersea enthusiasts, professionals and beginners. Recreational divers and beginners can attend one of the professional diving schools organizing courses for beginners each summer, while the others can enjoy the rich undersea attractions.

It is assumed that a real town called Cissa sunk in the middle of the first millennium A.D. at the site of present-day Rovinj and wider. Cissa was a true urban gem of the mentioned period, characterized by all features of organized, urban life. According to local fishermen, when the sea is crystal clear, the walls of the sunken town can be seen in the depths of the sea. Numerous Rovinj islets and cliffs are perhaps only fragments of a whole torn apart a long time ago.

At the final hour of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy that ruled this area for a whole century, and almost simultaneously with its entrance into the bloody waters of the First World War, a tragedy occurred. On August 13, 1914 the pride of the imperial fleet, its glamorous sailing vessel, the famous Baron Gautsch ran into a minefield set up by the imperial army itself about 9 miles from the Port of Rovinj. Today the Baron Gautsch shipwreck is a must-see undersea attraction for curious divers who look at it with the same admiration as it had been looked at when sailing the world seas.

Veštar and Archaeological Artifacts

The traces of the Ancient Period are primarily found in the foundations of numerous rustic villas and religious buildings. Especially interesting is the Late Ancient village of Veštar with its Borasso Tower (Torre Borasso) and a myriad of ancient fragments, mosaics, ceramic items, coins and ruins of walls that this attractive, tourist area used to abound in.

House of Batana Eco-museum and Native Museum of Rovinj

www.batana.org

Operating both as a town gallery and a permanent exhibition, the Native Museum of Rovinj is actually a renovated Baroque palace of the counts of the Califfi family from the 17th and 18th centuries.

A several-hundred-year-old pride of the local fishermen, a survival tool, an ordinary means of transportation, a tourist attraction or just a product of talented, skilled shipbuilder's hands.

All that is the batana, an old fishing boat without sails, unique by its appearance and method of construction. The newly founded eco-museum called House of Batana (Kuća o batani) is dedicated to this special type of boat. It fascinates with its modern approach to this authentic topic.

Ruđer Bošković Institute and Aquarium

The biological institute for sea exploration called Ruđer Bošković is a hundred-year-old Rovinj’s scientific institution of both state and international significance.

Its exotic, visually refreshing aquarium with diverse undersea life is open to visitors daily.

Islands

As we have already pointed out, the Rovinj archipelago is a true natural treasury of about forty islands and islets, of which only two are inhabited and foster a long tourism tradition.

We are referring to the Island of St. Catherine (Otok Sv. Katarine) and the largest and most popular island, the Red Island (Crveni otok). Other more significant ones include the Island of St. John (Otok Sv. Ivana), very much loved by the people of Rovinj, the Island of St. Andrew (Otok Sv. Andrije), the Banjole Island, the Figarola Island, the Island of Two Sisters (Otok Dvije sestrice), the Island of Donkeys (Otok magaraca) etc. The islands of the Rovinj archipelago fascinate, besides by their extraordinary beauty and closeness, by valuable cultural and historic buildings, undersea attractions and authentic Mediterranean vegetation as well.

Lim Bay

Besides being known as a famous tourist attraction with an interesting speleological feature, Romualdo's Cave (Romualdova pećina), the Lim Bay, one of the most beautiful bays in the Adriatic, is also known as a traditional shell farm, mainly thanks to the high level of sea cleanliness. Its steep slopes covered in rich Mediterranean vegetation are a natural monument of old hydrographic movements and evolution on the Istrian soil.

Kanfanar and Bale

A twenty-minute drive from Rovinj towards the frontier, northern parts of the municipality bearing the same name, you will enter a small, suggestive village called Kanfanar.

A surprise awaits you in its immediate vicinity. We are referring to a medieval town called Dvigrad. It enjoys the status of a very valuable ruin from the beginning of the 17th century that bears witness to the turbulent period when plague was ravaging Istria.

Following the same road towards the south of the Rovinj Municipality, you will reach Bale, a small village abounding with cultural, historic and archaeological finds. A long time ago, Bale was a Roman fort. Documents, copper coins, remains of buildings and other artifacts bear witness to that fact. Along the Bale coastal area, at the site of the present-day tourist complex called Porto Colone, there are numerous remains of dinosaurs and other pre-historic animals. A unique paleonthological museum and park will be built at this sight in the near future.