Sabbath Day in Pula

Aw, where to start. Before I do I might need to just quickly recap our adventures getting to Pula. We took a toll road on the interior for a couple of hours on the way and then Matt wanted to explore a road different from the road to Zagreb that we'll be on in a couple of days so he descended and went onto the coastal road. We made it all safely but it was a scary experience with something over-heating and beeping and buzzing. We had an engine check light that went off and we pulled over to let things-assuming things was breaks-cool down a bit. When we finally got here we thought it would be pretty self-explanatory since the landlord hadn't really communicated with us. Nope. we were so confused and couldn't find any contact information at all. It was very difficult to figure out and took a long time. We finally did and then we walked into town to get. . .fish and chips. Good grief. I didn't get any photos from that night but it was a nice night. Still, I was so glad to be back in an apartment. We went to sleep and the next day was the Sabbath. I mourn the fact that I didn't help with the planning just enough to be sure we were in a place with an LDS chapel today. We would've really enjoyed meeting the Croatian Saints. We had to make the best of things now though. We didn't need an extra 3hrs of driving in that van. After a sweet church service, we ventured into Pula to see some sites

Many old Roman Temples were later changed to Christian Temples.

Ancient way of telling time carved into the stone.

Roman Gate with and eagle and a serpent carved into it.

The architecture has so many fun details.

This was my favorite part of our Sabbath. This catholic church was having services and I loved hearing them singing. We went around back to the courtyard and cloisters and there were the families with children sitting and listening to the music, waiting their turn to take communion. It was a sweet spirit and I wanted to stay and watch but my family felt we were intruding on their sacred space and wanted to leave. 

One of the older column capitals. 

Mother Teresa has a strong presence in the art of the churches here. Her connections with Croatia are very close. She spent time in Zagreb and spoke Croatian.  I loved telling the girls about her.

 This is the gate of Hercules. Here you can just see his face and his cudgel. The gate between two towers was likely built in the first century BC. Here's a little bit of information.

I don't know how archeologists feel about this, but I love that they take old and make it used. This old Roman Theater-is a theater. The erect seating and take this ancient site and continue renew it how they can so it becomes part of the city. I hope it's good practice but. . .I don't really know.

Ancient Mausoleum. 

The girls were feeling a little done with walking and just wanting to play this morning. It really was a morning we needed to be at church. We dragged them out anyway and it was a bit unwilling today. We packed a lunch and meant to find a park to eat it in but it was sunny and we were hot and weary of the sun and couldn't find a great spot. People are not as likely to clean up after their dogs so the grassy spots weren't terribly inviting. Anyway, We found almost enough bench space but then Eli was left on his own. She hopped up from her bench and joined him. She would've done it for anyone. She doesn't like people to feel alone. They had a great chat.

Brigham meandered over after a while. They love having him home.

Just a normal street until suddenly there's a Roman Colosseum on the corner.

There was a lot of discussion about what happened in this arena. Who was killed, what options each type of fighter, are stories of men making friends with the animals and refusing to kill them true. . .The possibilities. . .

Again, a screen, seating. Imagine watching a movie or concert inside this colosseum. If I were to plan this trip again, I would definitely be looking at the arts available. I'm sure it would have to be planned far in advance but I just can't imagine being able to be part of any performance there.

The churches we went into were very simple compared with many we'd seen. I'm not sure if they'd just been bombed so often or if they  weren't as old as they seemed or if they just had a simpler way of worship. 

Pula is sort of a peninsula. Brigham really wanted to find shells. We tried looking up rustic less populated beaches and this is one of the ones that came up. To give perspective, you walk through mobs of people and parking and beaches and there's this one path right in with all of that, down a narrow crack to the ocean. There were still people there but it did look like fun. Everyone was cliff jumping and swimming. Not our Sabbath kind of adventure but it was still a fun place to discover. Completely the opposite of what we were looking for.

 We went home and I took on the challenge of cooking a meal for 7 on a tiny stove and no counters.