A few activities in the last 24-hours have given us a surge of adrenaline.
First, we visited the Church of St. Euphemia's 350-year old bell tower, which adorns Rovinj's highest point. We cautiously climbed the tower's 192 archaic steps that can be accessed for a small fee—a fee we considered to be a donation toward new steps! Concentrating on every step while holding the side rail with a kung-fu grip, we inched our way to the top. It was well-worth the shiver for the 360° panoramic view at the top. As we were going down (which was scarier), Austin asked if the stairs were up to code. Ha!! I do love that we have access to these historical treasures in their original (or almost original) state.
Secondly, Clint was enjoying his daily swim in the sea when he suddenly felt something surrounding him. He couldn't see it and was too afraid to touch what felt like boba tea pearls closing in on him, creating a slight resistance in the water. He quickly climbed to shore but then swam across the next bay over, feeling the sensation again when he was almost back, this time more freaked out. He asked a local who just finished his swim and the man said they are a completely harmless jellyfish. He even grabbed one from the sea and showed us! It looked like a transparent blob of smooth goo about the size of your palm.
Thirdly, I started to break into a sweat while leaning out our 4th story window over the main street to hang our laundry. This was a record height for our family garments! It didn't help that it was windy out.
Our Airbnb is the top floor with the laundry out.
Tomorrow is a pivotal point in our trip. We will embark on an adventure to Venice with our Airbnb host, Zarko, also a bus driver in town. Being only an hour and a half from the Italian border, we couldn't not try to get into Italy! We've heard from a couple of sources that Americans can enter Italy if you have been in the EU for more than 14 days, but the info varies. If we are denied, Zarko will drive us back and we will return to our same Airbnb for the night to make new plans from there. Wish us luck!