Now it’s buon giorno and dobry dan.

I did get my seafood dinner in Barceloneta overlooking the Mediterranean. Started with a glass of sparkling cava (why not?), accompanied by bread with garlic and tomato, a small bowl of olives and anchovies marinated in olive oil. This last not a dish I would ever contemplate at home but, hey, I’m in Spain! Slightly fishy but only barely.

The main dish was mussels marinera (I’ll look up the Spanish word for mussels when I get home). The sauce was so good, I spooned it into the bowl the olives had come in and drank it like soup!

Next stop was Venice. I started off not being crazy about Venice. Already so crowded that it feels like Times Square on a weekend. Even the main drags feel like alleys and only about a third of the streets have signs!

My main gripe with Venice is that you really need to be in shape to get around. No public transport to fall back on except for the water buses and you need to be near the water to use them.

In the end, my opinion softened and I may actually enjoy my next visit, a one-nighter in a few days when I return from Croatia on my way back to London. I found I was able to find my way around and, most importantly, got to the ferry terminal in plenty of time for my ferry-replacement bus connection to Croatia.

Rovinj is a tiny, hilly town on the Adriatic that Rick Steves has placed on his current list of ten hidden gems in Europe. I can see why.

More on all this later. Time for dinner and it’s raining and I’m out and about without any rain gear.