A Weekend in Pula, Croatia

My mom always wanted to visit the Northern part of the Adriatic Sea in Croatia. That region is called Istria and is very close to Italy. In fact, when you travel through these parts, in moments, you feel like you are in Italy. We wanted to make a huge road trip, but had to cut our trip short this time. That’s why in this three day outing we only explored the city Pula. Pula is the largest city of Istria. The most prominent features are the Arena and the wonderful old town.

The Pula Arena (first image, and the image below) is the only remaining Roman amphitheatre to have four side towers entirely preserved. It was constructed between 27 BC and AD 68, and is among the world’s six largest surviving Roman arenas. A road leads around the Arena and you can get a pretty good look inside,Pictured above this text is the the star-shaped castle with four bastions is situated on top of the central hill of the old city. It was built, over the remains of the Roman capitolium, by the Venetians in the 17th century.

Two other notable and well-preserved ancient Roman structures are the 1st-century AD triumphal arch, the Arch of the Sergii and the co-eval Temple of Augustus, built in the 1st century AD built on the forum during the reign of the Roman emperor Augustus.The Twin Gates (Porta Gemina) is one of the few remaining gates after the city walls were pulled down at the beginning of the 19th century. All of these sights are very close to each other and you won’t have a problem to explore Pula in one day. We stayed in Hotel Pula (which was a bit older and not renovated, but still ok), that was a bit outside the city, but had a great forest surrounding it with walking paths right next to the Adriatic Sea.

Besides the old town and wonderful historic sights, you will find new shopping malls, restaurants and cafes here. We really had a great time in Pula. I look forward to coming back here again and exploring Istria completely.