Special P-day with Sisters to Rovinj in Istria

Our Elders left this morning for Zagreb since Elder Froc was returning to Canada after serving two years in our mission. Sister Roberts was getting transferred the next day to Zagreb so we asked President Melonakos if we could travel to the beautiful city of Rovinj on the coast of Croatia's Istria region for our last P-day with Sister Robers and Sister Zemenchik. It's just a 90-minute drive to Rovinj but so worth it. It had rained the entire day before, so the day of the trip was crystal clear--we enjoyed the most gorgeous weather. The drive to Rovinj was beautiful.

     The old town is on a peninsula that once held 10,000 residents hence the narrow pedestrian-only streets. We had fun investigating the town. We had fun being tourists and visiting the Church of St. Euphemia and climbing the rickety steps to the tower--old, wooden slates nailed to a framework, with gaping holes in between. The church was built in 1736 so we wondered how old the wooden steps were that we were all climbing? At the top of the tower we bumped into two American LDS couples from California.

   

    On the way home, we visited the family-owned Chiavalon Olive Oil farm and store. We were taught the correct method of evaluating the different types of olive oil, by sipping olive oil to evaluate its freshness.
1.  First, you swish it around in your cup and smell it for its fresh smell.
2.  You then sip a little and smile and suck the olive oil to the sides of your mouth--like a deep, forceful breath through smiling, clenched teeth.  The sucking shoots the oil up the sides of the mouth and throat to the special gland receptors. It should have a slightly spicy and bitter taste and it varies depending on the olive variety and coarseness of the blend.

There!  You are trained professionals!  We tried several kinds of olive oil and had fun trying to improve our technique and taste the differences.