Istria explorations continue

 After another great breakfast, we heaed out- So we were lucky enough to have Nick Lazzarini return for sing in the square below our hotel room windows (almost like a private concert but it's too chilly to open the windows.)

We headed across the square to enjoy his performance with some hot chocolate, hoping the weather cleared later that afternoon. Regardless it's predicted to improve each day we are here. 

We had a brief chat with the musician. IMO he's far too talented to be busking. His set lists make him a natural for a tour in America and his English is very good. He's Italian from the Veneto area but lives nearby. 

An overcast day. We explored some of the "newer" section of town - which surrounds the harbor, away from Old Town which is on the "mountain" topped by the church. It is not as prosperous looking as the old town. Less well maintained, it seems to be the location of many accomodations similar to AirBnB. I found the variety of wrought iron security decorations of interest, so this group has many photos of doors, in addition to some of the very very touristy cafes and restaurants on the streets that run parallel to harbor but above it. Also, included a few photos of the old town from across the harbor. The one with the (sort of) sunset was taken at 1:17PM (Thanks to daylight savings time ending)

Anyway - this night was the fancy dinner at MONTE (IMO a seriously overated restaurant depsite a number of good flavors in some courses) 

But back to the newer section of the center of town.

Later  we dined at Gianinno which was my favorite meal in Rovinj. (too cold to sit outside.) We had an excellent dinner, up a back street from the harbor, to a cozy place called Giannino. The service was fabulous and so was the food. The winners were the truffled ravioli and the tempura shrimp and veggies. We tried two more Malvasia wines. So far, we haven't had a bad one or even a mediocre one... 

So that brought us through the weekend. On Mon day we had arranged a driver to take us up into the central part of the pensinsula where in the mountain forests truffles are foraged with hunting dogs specifically trained on the scents of truffles.  Stay tuned for more.