It has been another exciting week in Croatia! The rhythm of the week seems to have settled on a somewhat normal schedule during the week. Most days we just go to work and come home (Really exciting I know). The weekends are really where we get the blog-worthy adventures, but the weekdays are pretty chill.
The most exciting part about the day is figuring out what we are going to eat for dinner. It's really funny because most of the time we plan out our meals before going to the grocery store, but by the time we get back to the apartment it seems like we left those recipes at the store! We always have a vague knowledge of what is in the refrigerator and think about what we want to make during our lunch break on the same day. The thing is, we don't completely remember what we have so we can't fully commit to the idea until we get home. We then figure something out and usually get a somewhat good result in the end, then the cycle repeats until we realize we need to go to the store.
The work is still good, and all three of us are making good progress on our jobs. Nate is making frames for the structural team, Luke is continuing his analysis of the sailing passenger ship project, and I am continuing to analyze the stability of the search and rescue vessel. Our mentors left us to our jobs last week since they were caught up in training sessions for a new program that is being introduced in the office, which was only slightly concerning because we tend to get our work done faster than they expect. This just means that we have the time to fully explore the capabilities of the software that we are working in, especially Maxsurf. I am certain that Luke and I have a better grasp on how to use Maxsurf than most of the people in the office, and Luke is actually making a user manual for others in the office to have a better guide to using Maxsurf.
Enough with the work and on to the fun! Saturday was our big adventure of the week, as it has been in previous weeks. It was a rainy weekend, but that didn't keep us from having a good time. We went on a road trip around the region of Croatia known as Istria, and we stopped in Pula, Rovinj, and Motovun. Pula was our first stop, a modern city with ancient gems scattered around that reminded everyone of its history. The first of these gems that we had the privilege of visiting was the Roman amphitheater. It is the eighth largest in the world and is very well preserved, as you can see from the pictures. In fact, it is so well preserved that they still hold concerts in it today. We were lucky that it was open, and while we were there I only saw two other people walking around, which was amazing considering it is the main tourist attraction in Pula. Standing in the middle of the arena and looking around brought history to life as you could imagine gladiators fighting foreign beasts (Picture courtesy of Luke) with crowds in the stands enthusiastically cheering. The amphitheater even had an underground chamber beneath the fighting ring where they had an exhibit highlighting the olive oil industry that has flourished in the region since Roman times.
Other attractions in the city included the old wall, a temple to Caesar Augustus, the archways of the old city gates, and a Roman theater that was built into the side of a hill in an out of the way corner of the city. As we walked through Pula we found crowds at the market, which was in full swing on Saturday morning with people selling many kinds of fruits, vegetables, and pastries.
Continuing on in our journey we went to the city of Rovinj. After parking, we seemed to have a bit of trouble finding the large tower on the top of the highest hill in the city. No, seriously, we walked in the opposite direction for a few minutes before one of us turned around and saw it. Once we were going in the right direction we found the tower in the older part of the city, which quickly became the favorite place we have visited so far. There was no room for cars since the streets were so narrow and there were many overhangs and arches that made the whole place seem like a fantasy world. Although we didn't have any directions to get to the church and the tower we knew it was on top of the hill, so we just went up until we found it. The view from the top of the hill was incredible. On our way back down we found a spot where we could walk down to the rocky shoreline to get some pictures. There was even a sea cave!
Our final stop of the day was at the city of Motovun, which reminded me of another fantasy place. It is a literal city on a hill, except the hill looked more like the lonely mountain from the Hobbit than anything else. On top of this hill were a castle and a medieval town. There wasn't much there to see other than the castle, which did have a very impressive view of the surrounding landscape. If I was there in medieval times I would much rather be in the castle than attacking the castle!
On Sunday there wasn't much going on, and we spent the day cleaning around the apartment and going shopping for this week's groceries, armed with recipes we were bound to forget. Tune in next week for storytime with Jacob, Luke, and Nate.
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