Delaney's 10th Birthday.

After a good sleep at the Villa Rossella- we woke up to a gorgeous Adriatic morning- the ocean looked incredible and this little town of Rovinji was wanting us to explore!  Unfortunately we did not have time to look around we were up and out and off to the car rental place by 9:30am.  We loaded our bags into the car and found a beautiful spot on a veranda for some breakfast.  There was a long drive ahead of us so we had to be well fed.

Old town Rovinji

Then we were off to our first stop- it was a 2 hour drive through some stunning inland highways- the roads are so well kept and the speed limit at 130km's/hour is fantastic.  I have never passed through so many tunnels- the longest of which was 6km!  We passed by the city of Riejka and on to Grabrk.  This was our first stop- the tiny town that Frank's mom was born in and lived in until she left Croatia at the age of 18.  Frank's uncle and family still live here- so we took the turn towards Grabrk and were there in 10 mins.  It is such a small town that his uncle's house number is 36 Grabrk!  W arrived and Mira and Ivan were there to greet us- Frank was here 14 years ago and it was like he never left.  Mira promptly served us a heaping plate of cake and juice, followed by a platter of cold cuts, bread, cheese and fruit.  Frank had to talk as they speak not a word of English- Frank had been worried about this as we felt his Croatian was not maybe up to snuff, well he was wrong- he had a wonderful time and chat and did a fantastic job of translating so we felt like we were all having a conversation.  Unfortunately we had to leave after only 1.5 hours as we still had about a 3 hour drive ahead of us.

Off we went again on the highway- I think the highways are so well kept because the tolls are exorbitant - we must have paid about $ 75 in tolls to get to Pozega. We passed by Zagreb (good news- they are building a huge IKEA just outside of Zagreb!), on to Pozega- we turned off the highway and met with a crazy thunderstorm- driving through the storm a rainbow appeared - end to end- quite a sight.

Finally at around 6:15 we arrived at Frank's uncle Mato's.  We were greater by Mato, his wife Tonka, their kids Ivan and Anna.  Mato and Ana speak very good English- thank heavens, Ivan and Tonka not a word.

Frank once again became the translator and conversationalist, as all the family arrived it was amazing to see. Pretty soon there was a full house and then the food- so much meat and bread and veggies- I am going to need a serious diet after leaving here.

After dinner Tonka brought out a beautiful cake  that she had made for Delaney's birthday- so lucky- it was delicious- I have to get that recipe.  

After  a long day we headed to Teta Zdenka's house where we are staying we were staying in the top of her beautiful house- an entire apartment to ourselves- so lucky.  We were asleep in minutes. 

Lucky girl.