Brijuni National Park, Croatia

We arrived in Brijuni shortly before lunch.  The boat ride was maybe 10 min. but the kids loved it!

Once there we met with our friendly English tour guide who took us on a walking tour of the main island.  Our first stop was the Tito Museum which displayed a photo exhibition upstairs of “Tito on Brioni” (the former Yugoslavian president).  Downstairs was a “natural-science collection” of stuffed animals that were previously gifted to Tito by celebrities and politicians when they came to visit him on Brijuni.  Not gonna lie, it was a little freaky.

We hurried in the museum while the rest of the group was still discussing some of Tito’s history on the island (the kids were starving and needed to use the restroom).  We spent maybe 5-10 minutes inside, which was plenty of time to see everything we needed to see, and headed back outside to enjoy a quick picnic before the tour started back up (it was suggested to bring a picnic lunch if you are doing the tour, as there is only one short slot allotted for refreshments and the refreshment stand gets packed). 

Next, we walked through the former island quarries and to the Church of St. Germain (a 16^th century church with murals and frescoes of Glagolitic Istrian writings).

Then, we walked through the island’s botanical gardens and ended up in front of the oldest living olive tree in Croatia (dating back to 4 A.D.).

From here the group headed to the refreshment stand and souvenir shop.  Since we already ate, we had another quick snack in front of St. Germain’s church and the boys played a game of pine cone baseball…

The last group activity (that we stayed for) was an hour-long train ride around the island.  It was nice, but the kids were more interested in making faces to the kids behind them than actually looking at the GORGEOUS scenery around them.  The train took us along the coast, around some of the presidential villas and politician apartments, to a 1^st century Roman country residence in the Bay of Verige, along Pine Alley, and to Safari park, where we were able to get out for a 10 minute break to see the animals.

After the train ride the group went for another walking tour along the interior of the island; however, the kids were ready to leave and getting a little antsy so we took them to sit in the sun by one of the island’s hotels and had an afternoon drink by the water!  We hopped on the next boat back to Fazana (which comes fairly regularly) and headed back to our resort.

For dinner we went to an amazing little “Mom and Pop” type place for local Istrian food.  We were the only ones there for most of our dinner (we also went early) so everyone gave us their full attention and were so friendly and helpful!  The food was AMAZING.  We could hear them pounding out our kid’s schnitzel in the kitchen and they even cooked our food in front of us in the fireplace!  To finish the meal the server gave us what I can only say is “Croatian Moonshine” as a thank-you.  We are seriously considering coming back to this place before we leave!

Our server also gave us a lead on what to do tomorrow….Karmenjak National Park in Premantura!

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SPRING BREAK 2014

Day 1 - Pula, Croatia (Arrival)
Day 2 - Pula, Croatia (Auquarium/Fort Ventura)
Day 2 - Pula, Croatia (Ambrela Beach)
Day 2- Pula, Croatia (Roman Amphitheater)
Day 3 - Fazana, Croatia
Day 3 - Brijuni National Park, Croatia
Day 4 - Prementura, Croatia (Kamenjak National Park)
Day 4 - Rivinj, Croatia
Day 5 - Medulin, Croatia (Departure)