Bale

The district of Bale, located near Rovinj,Vodnjan, Kanfanar and Svetvincenat is a preserved area of Istria that has avoided all forms of devastation and today the locals can say with great pride that their home is an area of natural beauty surrounded by natural wealth, untouched nature and rich cultural and architectural heritage. The district of Bale spreads over 81, 65 square kilometres and has a population of 1295 people.

The town of Bale, entirely made of stone,was built on the top of the limestone fortress. It symbolizes Istrian tradition and it existed, according to archaeological research, since the Roman period when it was known under the name Castrum Vallis. Fort Bale protected the trade route between Pula and the interior of the peninsula. The Roman Castrum became a walled little town in medieval times. Today the Roman Castrum Vallis is a small town whose historical core is located 145 meters above the sea level, surrounded by hills. The Italian name „Valle“ means valley, and Bale is the valley positioned between hills Monleme, Skvacota, Pizanovac and Veli Majan; Pastrovicev vrh, Sv Nedjelja, Brigonera, Mongrizeja and Sokol. The most interesting buildings preserved to our days are Venetian Gothic building of the court and the Gothic Renaissance castle form th 15th century which was the residence of the family Soardo Bembo. The area of Bale forms a whole with arable land, pastures, forests in which one can easily come across the remains of old buildings, Roman roads, water tanks, wells, Roman villas, oil presses, churche. From religious buildings there is a church from the 14th century deidcated to St. Anthony and the Romanesque church of St. Elizabeth. The 45th parallel goes straight through the narrowest part of the district of Bale, which means that the district is ideally positioned as regards the planet – half way between the Equator and North Pole. The average temperature in Bale is 14 degrees centigrade and the town has 2400 sunny hours on average a year, which has attracted huge numbers of tourists to the place – a treasure surrounded by the greenness of the flora and blueness of the sea.

Motovun

Motovun is a town in central Istria, located on top of a steep hill that dominates the Mirna River valley. A staircase of 1052 steps leads up to it. Its basic aspect has changed very little since the medioeval times. The town walls are almost intact, the circular urban structure being adjusted to the hill configurations.From the top there is a view spreading over vineyards and fields of the Motovun forest, which belong in the category of Forest Parks.

Motovun is a medieval town that grew up on the site of an ancient city called Kastelijer. It is placed on a hill 270 m (886 ft) above sea level with houses spreaded all over the hill. On the inner walls are several coats-of-arms of different Motovun ruling families and two gravestones of Roman inhabitants (dating from the 1st century). In the 10th and 11th centuries it was under the Bishop of Poreč. From 1278 it was taken over by Venice and surrounded by solid walls which are still intact today, and used as a walkway with unique views over the four corners of Istria. All three parts of the town are united by a system of internal and external fortifications with towers and city gates containing elements of Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance styles, built between the 14th and 17th centuries. It is a typical example of Venetian colonial architecture.

The late-Renaissance church of St. Stephen was built right at the beginning of the 17th century refering to sketches probably designed by the well-known Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508-1580). The church contains several works of art: the marble statues of St. Stephen and St. Laurence by Francesco Bonazzo and the 17th-century painting of the Last Supper over the altar by an unknown Venetian artist. The water cisterns in the square in front of the church date from the 14th and 15th centuries.

The forest of Motovun The river Mirna flows below the hill and on the other side of the river there is the well known Motovun forest, an area of about 10 square kilometres in the valley of the river Mirna, of which 280 hectares (690 acres) is specially protected. This area diverges completely not only from the nearby forests, but also from those of the entire surrounding karst region because of its wild life, oist soil and rich-with-prized-black-and-white truffles (Tuber magnatum), which grows successfully here. Since this fungus grows underground, it is found and collected with the aid of specially trained dogs. In order to preserve natural conditions for the development of the Motovun forest, the protected area is occasionally flooded, even though the River Mirna is controlled and its entire valley protected from flooding.

On the slopes of the hill, grapes for famous Istrian wines are grown: the Teran and the Malvazija wine. The legend of Veli Jože Motovun is known among today’s population of Istria as the city of Veli Jože, the good gentle giant who symbolizes the Croatian people of Istria. The story written by Vladimir Nazor, one of the most important Croatian writers of the 20th century, was a response to the national struggles of the Croats for equality against fascism (1900-1914). The tale is known today throughout Croatia, while the character of Veli Jože (Big Joe) is quite correctly linked with the city.

A street in Motovun Since 1999, Motovun has hosted the international Motovun Film Festival for independent and avant-garde films from the U.S. and Europe. The biggest current local issue is the battle between foreign developers, who have proposed two 18-hole golf courses and a 500+-bed resort in the valley below the town, extending the existing 9-hole course and some of the local community, who are opposed to the proposals because of objections against the real estate speculation around the project, rejection of 123 building sites for villas in the protected natural environment and concerns about possible damage to their truffles growing on the other side of the river. The community is divided on the issue, as many welcome the development as a year round aid to jobs and local tourist revenues.

Church of St. Stephen and fountain Motovun’s ground plan is reproduced on the reverse of the Croatian 10 kuna banknote, issued in 1993, 1995, 2001 and 2004.

Pazin

Pazin is a town of long and rich tradition. It is situated in the very centre of Istrian peninsula, only 30 km away from well-known tourist centres.It is the center of Istrian prefecture. The intensity of life here is pretty much the same in winter and summer, with the monthly exception of every first Tuesday, when a flood of curious buyers from all over the Istria runs into the town to visit the traditional Pazin Market.

Written documents mentioned Pazin in the 10th century. The town has developed on a hill overlooking Pazinčica stream. Right above the precipice stands the old tower on a rugged cliff. New Pazin developed in the valley beneath . The town of Pazin has been an important religious center and a seat town of the bishopry.

Pazinski kaštel The Pazin Castle is the biggest and the best-preserved medieval fortress in Istria. It was first mentioned in written documents in 983. Since that time, the Castle and the growing civil area that surrounded it have been given as present, conquered and sacked, destroyed, rebuilt and sub-leased many times. It has changed owners, managers and names. It was under the dominion of Patriarchate of Aquileia, and then under the County of Gorizia. Since 1374, the whole County had been a private property of the Austrian house of Habsburgs. Today, the Ethnographic Museum of Istria and the Museum of Pazin are located there, and their exhibitions are held.

The parochial church of St. Nicholas Originally built in 1266, it was rebuilt in 15th and 18th centuries. Especially interesting is its web-like (or star-shaped) presbytery with a fresco cycle painted around 1460. Those frescoes belong to the highlight of late Gothic Art in Istria. The same way of vault shaping has been used later, in some other Istrian churches, including the one by the Franciscan monastery. In 1705, a 45m high bell-tower was added to the church.

The Franciscan Monastery The monastery and the church of the Visitation of the Holy Virgin originated from the middle of the 15th century. The church has a late Gothic presbytery based on the model of St. Nicholas. During the past centuries, the Franciscans held the pharmacy and the hospital in the monastery. A public school was there from 1781 to 1834, and a grammar school with classes in German from 1836 to 1873. The Church has given a privilege to Franciscan order – everyone who visits the church of the Virgin of Angels in Assisi on August 2 gets an absolution of sins. That custom spread to many Franciscan churches including the one in Pazin.

The Public Records Office The Public Records Office in Pazin is one of the richest archives in Croatia by its archival material, and by its notarial legacy. It leaves even some big archives behind. The Royal State Grammar School – the first grammar school in Istria with classes in Croatian operated here from 1899 to 1919.

The Roman Catholic Seminary One of the most noticeable buildings in town is the building of former Catholic Seminary in Juraj Dobrila Street. The building was built by the Student Support Society for Istria before the World War I and its purpose was to be pupil’s home. The institution Fabio Filzi has taken this for a place since 1936 and all the armies used it in the World War II. Catholic Seminary has operated here since 1945 and another school – The Pazin College – a grammar boarding school and one of the first private grammar schools in Croatia since 1993.

Spomen dom – Memorial Centre The Memorial Centre of Union and Freedom has been built as a memorial to September 1943, when it was decided in Pazin, that Istria will join the rest of Croatia. It is a multifunctional building, which nowadays is the convergence point of cultural and social life, with a library, exhibiting places, concert and cinema halls and the adjoining contents.

The Stream of Pazin – Pazinčica The Stream of Pazin, or the Pazincica, originates from three smaller streams: Lipa, Rakov and Borut Stream, and access the hollow of Pazin from the North. As the ground is Karst, the stream flow forms many bigger and smaller cascades, waterfalls and lakes, some suitable for a summer bathe. The valley of Pazin Stream, together with the Pazin Cave where the stream sinks into subterranean passages, is an attractive natural area for a number of nature lovers as cyclists, climbers, walkers and anglers. During the past, water flow was used for mill running, and their remains can still be seen along the banks.

Pazinska jama Under the walls of the Castle, in the hatch of the Cave of Pazin, the Stream of Pazinčica ends its flow above the ground, continuing underground southwards. About a hundred meters under the town level, the underground stream creates two lakes connected by a siphon. When there are periods of profuse rains, the hole of the cave cannot swallow all the incoming water, so a real lake is then formed in the canyon, sometimes even 2 km long. The greatest of all ever known was the one from 1896, when the water lacked only 30m to reach the walls of the castle.

Jules Verne , a pioneer of science fiction, set a large part of the plot of his novel Mathias Sandorf from 1885 into Pazin. After the introductory part of the novel, which takes place in Trieste, a rebellious count Mathias Sandorf and his two friends are arrested and imprisoned in the Castle of Pazin. They manage to escape through the window and down the lightning rod into the cave, and are then carried into the underground by the flood. After a while, two rebellions see daylight in the Bay of Lim on the West Coast of Istria. The story leads us all over the Adriatic (Rovinj, Dubrovnik) and further over the Mediterranean (Sicily, Malta, Gibraltar). More details about the novel can be found on the Jules Verne Club web site.

Vladimir Nazor Vladimir Nazor, a very well known Croatian writer, who lived and worked in Pazin at the beginning of 20th century, finds the inspiration for his novel Gory Days here, but his legend about the emergence of the Cave of Pazin is also interesting.

Učka

Učka Nature Park embraces Mount Učka and a part of the Ćićarija mountain range. It is located along the northern Adriatic coast and it offers a splendid panoramic view of Istrian peninsula, the Velebeit massif, Slovenian mountain rage and Gorski kotar mountains.

Hum

Hum (Italian: Colmo; German: Cholm) is a town in the central part of Istria, northwest Croatia, 7 km from Roč, 14 km southeast of Buzet on a hill above the Mirna valley. The town is located at 349 m. This small fortified settlement has maintained all the characteristics of medieval urban architecture and organization. It has a population of only 17 people (2001 census), but is officially a town, and is the Guinness World Record holder for the smallest town in the world.

Protected by an oval wall it has a gate and a lodgr, St.Jerome’s church in which there are beautiful frescoes from the 12th century . It was first mentioned in documents dating from 1102, at that time it was called Cholm which is derived from the Italian name Colmo. A bell and watch tower was built in 1552 as part of the town’s defenses beside the town loggia. The present parish Church of St. Jerome (Sveti Jeromim) with its classical facade was built in 1802 . The “Hum Glagolitic wall writings” are preserved in the church, written in the formative period of Glagolitic (the second half of the 12th century) and they are one of the oldest examples of Croatian Glagolitic literary culture in the Middle Ages. The town museum exhibits a few Glagolitic writings.

Butori ponor

Waterfall is fenced, and the path to its base is decorated and protected by a fence so that you can easily put down. Slap on the river Arđila and below the falls and gorge.

Glavani Park

When you arrive in Glavani, a small picturesque village in the Council of Barban, prepare yourself for a dose of adrenaline that will stimulate and excite all your senses. Try something fun and new – visit the best adventure park in Istria – Glavani Park. All those who are brave enough, (or feel like they want to be brave ), regardless of their age, will enjoy themselves swinging about amongst the trees. We have prepared three routes for you, yellow, blue and black each increasing in height and in difficulty and, as a great bonus, both the blue and black routes end by enjoying the 113metre zip line. So come and enjoy yourselves in a fun adrenaline adventure in the best Istrian adventure park – Glavani Park. Open 9am – 8pm every day including Sunday If you want to try all the routes then you need to arrive by 6pm! You’ll find Glavani Park on the road between Vodnjan (10km) and Barban (6km) or turn off the main Pula – Labin road at Manjadvorci and follow road to the end and then turn left for Vodnjan!

Gologorički dol

In a valley, among the beautiful hills of the central Istria is the place of Gologrčki Dol. Only 5 kilometers far from Cerovlje, you can enjoy in an untouched nature, a mild climate and hospitality of the numerous family, whose name can be found in the oldest registry book of Gologorica Parish already in 1664.

Istria is rich with historic little towns that you can visit on hiking tours. One can pick mushrooms, asparagus, blackberries and elder along the way. The hosts will offer you to ride a horse or to drive karoca (a coach). A crystal clear brook runs through the farm creating a natural, large waterfall falling down into pond, a memorable swimming experience in the summer.

Truffles

Slowly but surely Istrian truffles (tartuffi) have been making their name known in the world. Late summer, autumn and early winter are truffle finding time. Both the prized white truffle and the more common black truffle are commonly found in Istria. Restuarant menus offer them both in main and desert courses. You will know it is truffle time as the specially trained dogs go truffle-hunt mad and can be heard in the early hours. Some years ago Carlo Zigante found the world’s largest white truffle (1.3kg) near Buje. It entered the Guinness Book of Records. To promote Istrian Truffles, he cooked a dinner for 100 people using his prize truffle as chief ingredient. As a result attention was drawn to the area and today there are Truffle Events held annually. If you know nothing about truffles there is no better introduction than visting one of the truffle fairs - wine tastings and other local produce available.