My friend Lynn and I slept well in our last night at
BiVillage in Fazana, Croatia. We were comfortable in our little cottage just a
short walk from the Adriatic Sea.
We could have easily just stayed there and enjoyed the
beach, but we had plenty more to see in
Istria.
After a breakfast of fruit, cheese, yogurt, and croissants,
we headed back to the house to get packed up and wait for Goran of the
Visit Istria Tourism office to pick us.
It was the fifth day we would be traveling in the familiar van
with the other writers and guests, Rocky, Nicolas, Andras, and Gyorgy. It was a
great group and we were all having lots of fun together on the
Share Istria Adventure.
Our first stop of the day was in
Labin. I could never get
tired of these small Istrian towns as they each had their own personality.
Labin was once a mining town and
we got to actually go through a replica of a mine. I don’t know how those men
did it, my back was hurting from being hunched over for just a few minutes.
After exploring the Mining Museum
and the tools used for mining, we explored more of the artifacts at Museie
Gallerie Dell Istria.
We also got to check out some of
the art galleries in the town, which is very popular with artists looking for a
scenic place to work.
Lynn, an artist herself, and I
loved walking around the downtown and looking at the handmade items, but we
didn’t have too long to browse before we got into the car and drove to our
lunch at
Konoba Vrh.
The meal there was my favorite to
date. We had two different soups, Nettles and Minestrone, and three types of
pasta, spinach, asparagus, and truffles. It was served with beef.
From the restaurant we didn’t
have far to go for an activity I had been looking forward to since first
getting my itinerary for the trip – truffle hunting.
When we arrived at
Karlić Tartufi in Buzet, they had
some of their brandy waiting for us. I loved the cherry brandy, but can’t say I’m
a huge fan of the mistletoe. I think I’ll just use mine to hang up at
Christmas.
After we finished our drinks we went outside
to the vans. The dogs that they used for hunting were as excited as us, jumping
right into the back of the van when they were told where we were going.
It was a fun experience I will remember and
hope to repeat. We were running through the woods following the dogs. They
definitely knew what they were doing and they twice found black truffles.
Before we left we stopped at the Karlić Tartufi store. I bought some truffles
to take home with me. They were quite reasonably priced.
We then drove back to Rovinj to check into the
Lone Hotel. We had been told this was a five star hotel, but, quite frankly,
five star hotels in Europe aren’t always what you expect. This one was.
Hotel Lone is a contemporary designed
accommodation with lots of open space. The same held true for my room, which
had an infinite plunge pool on the balcony
Goran got to go home for a rare night off (he’s
one of the hardest working people I’ve ever met) and we walked to downtown
Rovinj for
dinner.
The guys raved about the large selection of
delicious seafood. Lynn and I, who are allergic to shellfish had some antipasto,
including locally cured meats, and a tasty snap pea dish with pomegranate
seeds.
We also enjoyed a few glasses of different
locally produced Istrian wines, including a malvasia and a dessert wine served
with a scrumptious cream cake and some cheeses.
It was a beautiful night for our walk back to
Lone Hotel. By the time we returned we were exhausted and ready for a good
night’s sleep – and our final full day in
Istria.
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