Walking down to the Stadion Aldo Drosina the evening heat felt as strong as it had at lunchtime.
Crickets in the trees had began making one of the most familiar sounds of the evening – rubbing one wing against a serrated vein of the other wing – stridulation.
Slowly the high-pitched and incessant song died out as the noise from people in the nearby stadium took over.
Located on Croatia’s Istrian Peninsula, Pula is known for its protected harbor, its beach-lined coast and spectacular Roman amphitheater. Italy is not that far away – if you get a boat at Pula harbor and motored west the first place of entry would be Ravenna.
Today the city of Pola or Pula is officially bilingual with Croatian and Italian spoken by locals.
Since the collapse of the former Yugoslavia in 1991, Pula has been part of the Republic of Croatia although up to 1918 it was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Its Italian heritage is recent and touchable.
Pula post WWI became part of Italy as the Province of Pola.
Occupied by the Germans during World War II the city was bombed intensely by the allies. Post war reconstruction saw it officially become part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Unsurprisingly Pula is lesser known for the Aldo Drosina Stadium where we were walking to that night.
It is the football home of the local side NK Istra 1961.
With a capacity of 9,800 it has undergone significant reconstruction in recent years. This allowed it to host the Croatian national team in a 2011 friendly international when they played the Czech Republic national team.
The Aldo Drosina Stadium grew out of the fabric of the former Campo del Littorio site which was located on the same land as the current structure.
That friendly match between Croatia and the Czech Republic on February 9th 2011 marked the official opening of the new stadium. But the true opening ceremony for fans of the home club took place ten days later when the Green and Yellows of NK Istra 1961 hosted Dinamo Zagreb.
Local fans of the club the ‘Demoni’ are as part of the fabric of the stadium as the team despite locals witnessing numerous team name changes over the years.
The green of the club is symbolic of the Istrian interior of the Croatian Istrian region. The club badge meanwhile features the amphitheater – what is essentially still the greatest symbol of the city of Pula.