Heights and depths

Last week I was in Rabac, an old fishing village, with 1000 inhabitants, and hotel/ appartment beds for 10.000 tourists!!!! Rabac is actually the first village that I have berthed with Madame Curie, were it was not very quiet. Untill now I have frequently been the only visiting yacht, and have had trouble finding a coffee bar that had allready opend. Most tourist don't arrive untill May, so why open your shop/bar? But Rabac is different, as soon as I sailed into the bay I could see tourist boats sailing, tourist sitting at the gelateria's on the quay, and all souvenir shops were open. Finally, some other tourists!!!. But the reason I sailed to Rabac was to visit the nearby city of Labin. The tourist guide I have on board rates it with two stars, so it should be well worth while to visit. You can reach Labin via an ancient mule track. Labin is situated about 600 meters above sealevel, so it is somewhat of a climb.

Labin on top of a hill

Where the mule track started exactly was not stated in the tourist guide. I asked around and was sent towards the camping on the other side of the bay. Upon arrival I could not find the track. I asked the first croatian looking person where I could find the track. It turned out to be a German busdriver. He was heading for Labin to drop of some German tourists within 1 hour, and actually had an empty seat in the bus. Plan B, I am taking the bus. It would also give me the oppertunity to join in the guided city tour.

Rabac and the bay

The view from Labin was super. The skies were not completely clear, so unfortunately some of the color does not show in the picture. The tour guide was extremely enthousiastic. She was born in Labin, and was eager to share about this lovely little city. Like in every old Venetian style city we entered through the city wall.

Labin city wall

And again, culture in unexpected locations. Some flower pots near a house turned out to be ancient olive oil containers. In the early days, these were build into the houses, to store the olive oil in the kitchen. They are worth a fortune, but they are also much to heavy to steal. So they are save in the old city. Rather nice, to learn about the city via a guided tour.

The tourist industry is very well regulated in Labin. I think they have to considering the number that actually stay in the area. The tour bus drops of the tourist on the central square. The bus than parks elsewhere, and picks up the tourists after an hour and a half. That gives them 45 minutes for the guided tour, and an other 45 minutes to sit in the local cafe. During my 1 cappuccino I saw 3 busses drop off tourists!!. I can imagine that the locals get depressed at the idea of an other busload.

Local enjoying his afternoon in an alley

Depths.
When I returned to the Madame Curie, I saw that she was rocking about in the harbor. There was hardly any wind, but there was a terrible swell in the harbour. Right in front of my boat there was a gelateria, so I spent the rest of my afternoon on the quay. But you have to go on board at some point. Getting on board was the usual struggle, too much swell, and the boat was just a little too far away... But when on board, my mood dropped even further. Seasickness immediately hit me. I took my pills, but somehow the effect was not enough. There was nothing else I could do, but lay in bed en be miserable. Being seasick in port is a definate low.

Being miserable

In hind sight I am thinking, why did I not video this rocking? Than I could have confinced everybody that it was indeed terrible. But unfortunately my brains were on standby, all I could think was: " please let it stop".