Pula meet-up (Aug 1-3) PROGRAM AND SCHEDULE

[tomsakic]

Leonard's show in Pula is happening on Friday, August 2nd, so the forum meet-up is scheduled to Aug 1-3.

here's the itinerary:

1. Visit to the Brijuni national park - Thursday August 1, meeting at 14:15 by Arena entrance (boat ride to the island)
2. evening hang-out on Thursday, Aug 1 - we will meet at 21h by the Arena entrance and then look for a good local cafe
3. central meet-up - lunch - restaurant DolceVita, Riva 2, Friday, August 2, at 13h
3. Istria guided tour (Rovinj, Poreč, Grožnjan, Motovun) - Saturday, August 3, meeting at 10:15 by Arena entrance (bus ride), with lunch break at local farm around noon - return to Pula around 8pm

Tom


*****************************




Everything in Istria is under one hour ride. including Slovenian coast, and Trieste/Venice. Check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istria



Pula:



Rovinj:



Poreč:



Umag:



Motovun (inland Istria):



Brijuni National Park: http://www.brijuni.hr/en/

[Mabeanie1]

Hi all

Tom is really busy so I have volunteered to help him gather information for the Pula meet up(s).

The first stage is to find out who is going to Pula and what meet ups and/or trips everyone might be interested in. Tom has set out some of the ideas in his messages. To summarise, possible activities are:

1 – Aug 1: Trip to the National park Brijuni Island
2 – Aug 1: Evening dinner
3 – Aug 2: Lunch or pre-show meet up
4 – Aug 3: Bus tour of Istria with guide

If there is sufficient interest in the Brijuni and/or Istria trips, Tom will approach local travel agents to see what is possible and the likely cost. Tom’s suggestion is that we keep sightseeing, lunch and dinner etc arrangements informal but it would be useful to have an idea of the numbers involved and who will be around on each day.

I know some people have already expressed an interest in meet ups or trips on the concert thread but I think it will be easiest if we start again from scratch. It would be helpful therefore if you could e-mail the following information to us at pulameetup2013@yahoo.com before the end of May:

Name + forum name
The days you plan to be in Pula
Which trips/ events you are interested in – 1, 2, 3 and 4 and how many people there will be for each

I will gather all the information together for Tom so he can find out what will be possible!

It is more than 20 years since my last visit to Istria so I am really looking forward to this one. See you there!

Wendy

[Mabeanie1]

Bumping this up in case there is anyone else who is interested in possible Pula meet ups etc and who hasn't yet got in touch to express their interest!

Hi all

Tom is really busy so I have volunteered to help him gather information for the Pula meet up(s).

The first stage is to find out who is going to Pula and what meet ups and/or trips everyone might be interested in. Tom has set out some of the ideas in his messages. To summarise, possible activities are:

1 – Aug 1: Trip to the National park Brijuni Island
2 – Aug 1: Evening dinner
3 – Aug 2: Lunch or pre-show meet up
4 – Aug 3: Bus tour of Istria with guide

If there is sufficient interest in the Brijuni and/or Istria trips, Tom will approach local travel agents to see what is possible and the likely cost. Tom’s suggestion is that we keep sightseeing, lunch and dinner etc arrangements informal but it would be useful to have an idea of the numbers involved and who will be around on each day.

I know some people have already expressed an interest in meet ups or trips on the concert thread but I think it will be easiest if we start again from scratch. It would be helpful therefore if you could e-mail the following information to us at pulameetup2013@yahoo.com before the end of May:

Name + forum name
The days you plan to be in Pula
Which trips/ events you are interested in – 1, 2, 3 and 4 and how many people there will be for each

I will gather all the information together for Tom so he can find out what will be possible!

It is more than 20 years since my last visit to Istria so I am really looking forward to this one. See you there!

Wendy

[tomsakic]

Here are the final numbers and dates:

LEONARD COHEN 2013 PULA MEET-UP, AUGUST 1-3
Aug 1: Brijuni – trip to national park - 30
Aug 1: Dinner – 30
Aug 2: Lunch or pre-show meet up – 45
Aug 2, 20 h: SHOW (Arena) + after party in local cafe (usually opened until 2am)
Aug 3: Istria guided tour – 35

Without problem I found the agency located by the arena willing to organise these trips so we will see their offer (I guess around 50 Euros for a day trip - hope that's acceptable price?).

I have to see how to find restaurant in Pula from Zagreb... Please note that we can find place for dinner at sight, without reservations, but I'll see what can I do (and that place is not too expensive).

[lcbird]

Hi! Just a question: there are already schedules and meeting points for the guided tours/ meet-ups?
Tnx in advance,
Lcbird

[Mabeanie1]

Hi! Just a question: there are already schedules and meeting points for the guided tours/ meet-ups?
Tnx in advance,
Lcbird

Tom is still working on the details lcbird. I'm sure he will let us know times and meeting points etc as soon as he can.

Wendy

[John Smith]

Hello,

Me and my partnter will came in Pula late in the afternoon August 1st. We are interested for dinner August 1st and all events in August 2nd . Hope it is not too late for attendance.

See you!

Branko

[tomsakic]

Here's little about James Joyce, who lived in Pula for a while:

In October 1904 the 22-year-old James Joyce eloped from Ireland to mainland Europe with his girlfriend (and future wife) Nora Barnacle. He sought work with the Berlitz English-language schools in Zürich and Trieste, but the organization found him a post in Pula instead, where he was paid £2 for a sixteen-hour week teaching Austro-Hungarian naval officers (one of whom was Miklos Horthy, ruler of Hungary between the wars). Despite their straitened circumstances, the couple enjoyed this first taste of domestic life – although Joyce viewed Pula as a provincial backwater, and, eager to get away at the first opportunity, accepted a job in Trieste six months later.

Though Joyce had a productive time in Pula, writing much of what subsequently became Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, the city made next to no impact on his literary imagination. In letters home he described it as “a back-of-God-speed place – a naval Siberia”, adding that “Istria is a long boring place wedged into the Adriatic, peopled by ignorant Slavs who wear red caps and colossal breeches.”

There are few places in modern Pula that boast Joycean associations: the Café Miramar, where Joyce went every day to read the newspapers, was until recently a furniture store; there are current plans to turn the building into a luxury hotel. You can always, however, enjoy a drink in the café-bar Uliks (“Ulysses” in Croatian), situated on the ground floor of the apartment block which once housed the language school; the terrace boasts a life-size bronze sculpture of the artist himself sitting on one of the chairs, and there’s a small glass cabinet containing Joyce memorabilia inside.

Read more: http://www.roughguides.com/destinations ... z2ZmIOzCPM

[tomsakic]

Same site, about the city:

Once the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s chief naval base, PULA (in Italian, Pola) is an engaging combination of working port and brash Riviera town. The Romans put the city firmly on the map when they arrived in 177 BC, bequeathing it an impressive amphitheatre whose well-preserved remains are the city’s single greatest attraction, though it’s just one of an easily accessible cluster of classical and medieval sights in the city centre. Pula is also Istria’s commercial heart and transport hub, and the rough-and-ready atmosphere of the crane-ringed harbour makes a refreshing contrast to the seaside towns and tourist complexes farther along the coast. The city also possesses the peninsula’s sole airport, so you’re unlikely to visit the region without passing through at least once. Central Pula doesn’t boast much of a seafront, but there’s a lengthy stretch of rocky beach about 3km south of the city centre, leading to the hotel complex on the Verudela peninsula, which was built in the 1980s to accommodate package-holidaying Brits.

According to legend, Pula was founded by the Colchians, who pursued the Argonauts here after the latter had stolen the Golden Fleece. The prosaic truth is that the city began life as a minor Illyrian settlement, and there’s not much evidence of a significant town here until 177 BC, when the Romans arrived and transformed Pula into an important commercial centre endowed with all the imperial trimmings – temples, theatres and triumphal arches – appropriate to its status.



Read more: http://www.roughguides.com/destinations ... z2ZmLDwLMK

[tomsakic]

Our Istria tour will happen on Saturday, August 3. 37 people enlisted for the tour - bus can take 49 so all fans and members are invited to join us.

We will meet at 10 a.m. in front of Arena, from the sea side (where the bus can stop). Please be there in time, we start at 10:30.

The itinerary:
10:15 meeting at Arena entrance (sea side)
10:30 start
11:00 Rovinj (city walking tour, visit to Santa Euphemia church)
12:15 start for Grožnjan - bus tour into inside Istria
13:30 arrival to Grožnjan, artistic city in inland Istria (city sight-seeing with the guide, some free time for local galleries)
14:15 departure from Grožnjan

14.30-16:30 break - lunch time at local agrotourist restaurant, with traditional Istrian food (not in the price)

16:30 departure for Motovun
17:00 Motovun
visit to local farm which produced famous Istrian mushrooms (tartuffe) with some tasting
visit to the city (warning: city is on the hill where we have to walk)
18:45 departure for Pula
20:00 arrival to Pula, in front of Arena

Includes English guide.

Price is 415 kunas per person.

We have to pay the agency before the tour starts - I will go to the agency in the morning - so please pay to me during the meetć-up, from Wednesday to Friday evening.
Tom

[Suemerlyn]

Hi Tom,

Me and my partner would like to join you all for the dinner on 1 Aug and all meet ups on 2 August, please. We arrive in the evening of 31 July (by car). I'm not sure yet about the bus trip on 3rd, but I might like to do this (probably just me). Can I decide when we arrive?? Thank you for this organisation!

[harald]

Regina and me will take part in any activities on Thu 1st and Fri 2nd before the concert
so
yes 2x for Brijuni
yes 2x for anything else on Tu and Fri
no 2x for Istria Sat

I just mailed this to o the busy organizers - whom I´d like to thank a lot for their work!

Have all save trips to Pula
we are looking forward to see you there,
Harald

[tomsakic]

Our trip to the island - national park Brijuni (Brioni) has also been finalised.

We meet on Thursday, Aug 1, at 14:15 in front of arena (from the sea side), and then we will go to the ACI marine (few minutes walk). Our boat starts at 14:45.

The calculated price (with discount for the group - minimum 30 people) is 280 kunas, and we have to collect money at 14:15 and then pay before the boat ride.

More about Brijuni at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brijuni and at http://www.brijuni.hr/en/

Brijuni are completely cultivated island (like the park) and our guide includes entrance for the national park (which itself is 200 kunas), visit to museum (Tito's residence), and various archaeological sites (dinosaurs, Roman villa, Templar Knight's remains). The island is a zoo with rare animals which we will see on our train ride thru the island.

Return at 20h.

Around 21:30 that evening we do not plan dinner but MEETING and drinking in one of local cafes around arena.

[tomsakic]

Our central meeting (Friday lunch) has also been settled down.

We will meet at 13h (Friday, August 2) in restaurant DOLCE VITA, few minutes from Arena, on the sea dock itself ("riva" in Croatian). The street address is Riva 2. Website: http://www.dolcevita.com.hr/o-nama (only in Croatian)

We have been offered 4 menus with local cuisine (two fish) for acceptable prices of 30 or 40 (fish) Euros.

PS. Those who will not pay the Istria trip (which is on Saturday) to me before, or collect your show tickets earlier from me, can do that at this place!

[tomsakic]

Later we'll add latest list of participants per trips, as we had some last minute changes.

Everybody are invited to join our activities if you didn't enlist your name previously, but those who already enlisted please do appear as our costs are counted per participants number! (That's 30 at least for the Brijuni trip, and 35 for the Istria tour.) We have 15 extra seats for both trips, but we cannot go under the minimum numbers otherwise the price will go up and we cannot cancel trips as bus/boats have been rented/reserved. We're paying for both trips at the meeting point, I can collect the money.

Tom