Autumn weekend in Istria, Croatia

Hi everybody! Here’s the first post in 2018, can you believe it!!? I know we say that all the time and we are all complaining about how times goes by too quickly but what can say, it really is the truth! It’s like we just started baking cookies and decorating and Christmas was already over, do you feel the same? Ah well, for me was everything a bit different than usual this year and specially because I’ve been re-decorating my apartment and the living room furniture that was supposed to arrive mid December, actually just arrived a couple of day ago. So yes, I had a total mess at home, over that ‘most beautiful time of the year’, no Christmas tree and not even a sofa to sit on! But I was surprisingly calm about it (except few moments of rage and tantrums! :D) and accepted it as just one of those things that you simply don’t have any control over so you better not lose your sleep over it as it won’t help the situation you’re in. But despite of all the challenges, I had beautiful time with my family and friends, had way too many cookies and glasses of wine, cuddles with my little niece and nephew, excitement of presents opening, cozy warm evenings at my sister’s place where we all gathered to celebrate and all that was way more important than having perfectly decorated home and everything as I imagined and planned. 🙂

I hope you all had wonderful time too and even if possibly not everything was perfect, that you enjoyed those beautiful moments with your loved ones!

For a little break from cakes and cookies, here is one travel blog post with lots of photos from beautiful Croatian region of Istria. I was lucky to spend a beautiful weekend in Istria with some of talented Croatian and Slovenian photographers & Instagramers, Domagoj Sever, Jaka Ivancic, Putopis travel agency , @croatia_instagram and @igslovenia. 

We wandered the narrow cobbled streets of hilltop towns, went truffle hunting with the cutest dogs and attended truffle festival organized by Zigante Tartufi, enjoyed wonderful food and Istrian wine, explored, laughed and took thousands of photos! You get the picture, we had an amazing time and I wanted to share some of the experience with you through this blog post. Let me start with the most magical little town Groznjan…

Grožnjan (Italian name Grisignana) is a charming small medieval Istrian town of great cultural significance and it’s called “the town of artists”. Every year at the beginning of May, the little streets and squares of Grožnjan transform into an artistic heaven and the whole town becomes one open stage as it opens its summer music academies for young people, artistic, dance and drama workshops and its peace activism workshops under the leadership of well-known experts and teachers and famous names from music, art and drama. It feels magical to wander the old cobbled streets of this enchanting little town, discover all the romantic little nooks and corners, colourful pretty doors and windows, little stone houses that make you daydream about the past times… I loved it so much and actually enjoyed even more that we went there off main tourist season as that allowed for much more relaxed stroll and many photo opportunities so I’ll let the photos speak for themselves…

Istria is beautiful any time of the year but my favourite time is Autumn as everything is coloured in all the pretty shades of red, yellow and orange and there is the most beautiful golden light reflecting on rooftops, stone walls and trees branches. But every season has its own charm and beauty so I think everyone can choose their favourite and enjoy all the beautiful nature, history, culture, great food and wine and everything else that Istria has to offer!

As I mentioned before, we visited a wonderful truffle festival organized by Zigante Tartufi in Livade, a small village near beautiful hilltop town Motovun, where we got to enjoy delicious food, from frittatas, pasta and hamburgers with truffles to delicious ice creams and other desserts all accompanied by amazing Istrian wine. We had so much fun and my personal favourite was when we went to the forest truffle hunting with our guide and the cutest dogs that take their job very seriously and are true truffle hunters. If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend this experience as it’s such a great fun!

After our stay in Livade and enjoying all the truffles we took a short drive to visit another charming little hilltop town Oprtalj (Italian name Portole) that was formerly a fort surrounded by defensive walls on which houses were built. The town is small but there is still so much to see and explore, the parish church of St. George built in 1526 is ornamented with the unique bell tower, there are also two small churches painted in frescoes – the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Rocco. Again, this town is so charming that I can’t wait to go again and have a wander through its old cobbled streets, every corner offered a photo opportunity so it was really a perfect day to take lots and lots of photos! 🙂

I hope you enjoyed this Autumn walk through beautiful Istria and let me know if it inspired you to visit when you get a chance! 🙂 I know I will be back again soon!

*Thank you so much for being here, that makes me so happy! You can also follow my Travelling oven on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, as well as subscribe to receive new blog posts via email. 

 

 

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