'You have reached your destination.'

Erm, no, we haven't.

Ten yards. . .

'Turn around, your location is 10 yards on the left!'

A few more steps.

'You have reached your destination.'

No, we bloody haven't!

Twenty minutes ducking in and out of some very beautiful alleyways and side streets, but still no 'Punishment of Dirce' 2nd-century Roman mosaic.

'Couldn't be IN a shop or restaurant?'

Nope. Try a different map app.

'You have arrived at your location.'

Arghhhh!

Looking over the car park and the apartment block in front of us, we decided to bravely abandon our quest and go for a lovely lunch instead.

Refreshed by truffle-fuelled pasta, we hit the interweb again.

Bar. Bar. Sweet shop. Wine shop. Truffle and oil shop. Restaurant, restaurant, photo developers. Car park. Apartment block.

The pretty streets turned into rather run-down blocks. There was indeed a car park and an alleyway leading to a building site.

Not a whiff of the 2nd (or 3rd) century before baby Jesus's parents got lost looking for a motel.

Back to the main drag, puzzling over maps and enjoying another rather nice beer.

We checked the reviews of this seemingly mythical site.

'Part of the fun was tracking down the mosaic.'

'I can see why it took a WW2 bomb to uncover this treasure! Really hard to find.'

'Worth the hour it took to track down, don't let the car park fool you!'

Google Earth, maybe?

Nope. Concrete lot, and an entrance to some newly-renovated housing.

Hmmmm. Beer time again. Bar staff not very helpful either. It's on Sergijevaca.

Maps. It's a bloody car park. The same car park we'd traversed twenty times this morning already.

A car park and an entrance to some flats.

Divert to see the cathedral. Easy to find. Lovey building. But the perfectly intact mosaic was on our list of must-sees in Pula.

Back to the car park Not an Istrian sausage (with or without truffles).

Maybe we could ring a doorbell, ask if the famous mosaic had been covered by the actual building?

Over the car park, up the rubble-strewn alley. Newly-renovated block in front of us.

Old railings on our left. Looks like they're protecting a drop in street level.

Or a twelve-by-six-metre, perfectly-preserved ancient mosaic!

Tucked away in this rather inauspicious part of the city. What a shame.

But, yes, part of the fun was finding the bloody thing!

Quest completed, is this why it's called 'the punishment'?

FWR

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