Motovun,
Croatia
Friday, May 30, 2008
The Istrian peninsula in Croatia used to belong to Italy until the end of WW2 and it really exuded an Italian vibe. We went to some beautiful little unspoilt mountain villages, some of which were still semi deserted from when the Italians left. Still plenty of local truffles, olive oil and wine to be found, which was ticking all our boxes so far! We stopped at a tiny one on the coast for the night (hopefully trying to find a village with a little bar for a beer) and walked straight into a local festival. Only about 70 people in the village so it was hard for us to blend in! The 'Festival of the Purple Flower' (we're sure there was a proper name for it!) had all the kids dressed in purple and adults reciting poetry through the village, plus the town folk group playing some hot little numbers on the bluff overlooking the sea - surreal! Cool but surreal!
We meandered down the Istrian coast through more walled fishing towns to Pula, which had a fantastic amphitheatre capable of holding 25,000 people (kinda the MCG of the Adriatic Coast) before getting into the Croatian coast proper
