Istria and Opatija

The Roman arena in Pula, Istria.


Sanja Komadina, Zeljka and me, in front of the statue of Madonina in Opatija.


My adventures in Istria last weekend:

* Two concerts of Los Caballeros, the Croatian mariachi band.

* One plate of delicious lamb, slow-roasted on a spit.

* One big mistake: eating the undercooked lamb kidney at the urging of Tomislav Frkovic.

* Negotiating a settlement with a group of female German tourists after they rear-ended our car.

* Poaching a beach campsite.

* The big hilite was meeting Sanja Komadina, a friend of Sanja Pirsl (of Ron Landsman fame). She showed me all around Rijeka and Opatija, and we chilled for an afternoon with her friend Zeljka, a med student.

* The other main event was meeting up with my friend and teaching mentor, Maja Marijanovic. She lives in Pula, and gave Frki and me an afternoon historical city tour. I sat with a statue of James Joyce, who lived there for a time. Pula is lovely, and feels Italian. The great Roman arena imposes over the whole city. Joyce apparently did not like Pula; this puts me on the right side of Pula and the right side of Joyce, if you ask me.