Istria, Croatia

By Pete
We crossed back into Croatia mid afternoon and headed to the campsite where we stayed a few days before- bugger closed for the season! We headed up the coast to find an alternative, camp 2- closed, camp 3- closed. We eventually found a small but immaculate site right by the ocean that was open all year, it had a couple of pitches left so we took one. By late afternoon it was full, they had vans in the parking lot and were turning people away!

We woke the next morning to a warm sunny autumn, so after a run, (Bea cursing me for choosing a circuit with hills) we slouched around camp, caught up on blogs and edited photos. In the afternoon we wandered to the beach, well rocks, for a refreshing dip!

We had a week to kill before the van was due in for its makeover so the plan was to explore Istria a little deeper. There was a beer and food festival a little down the coast starting Thursday and then a truffle festival on the weekend a little inland, but before that we had a few days to relax and enjoy this small corner of Croatia, so we decided to stay an extra night

Opposite the camp was a nice, relaxed, looking restaurant overlooking the ocean, and sunset. Perfect for date night dinner. Given it was off season there were only a few tables with customers so the service was excellent and the food simple, generously portioned and delicious. For entree we shared a plater of fish pâté, marinated and salted anchovies and a lovely sunset, then spaghetti with mussels, grilled squid and a carafe of the house white. A very pleasant way to spend an evening.

There is something rather nice and namely about these types of restaurants in the off season, you become guests not customers! We were enjoying this area so we decided to stay an extra night.

On Wednesday we headed down the coast to the small fishing village of Novigrad... and a rainstorm. In the late afternoon the storm abated so we were able to take a short walk, by the time we returned the rain had once again set in.
The storm had cleared overnight so we were able to explore Novigrad a little more the next morning.
Like many of the towns along the Istria coast, Novigrad is situated on a peninsula and has retained its medieval fortifications, structure and layout, with narrow, winding streets and small shops that make for a pleasant stroll.

In the afternoon we drove a little further down the coast to Porec, where the craft beer festival would kick off tomorrow.
We found a camping-platz within walking distance of town, a large parking area next to a funeral home and cemetery, but very convenient.

We had a booking at the festival gourmet dinner at Spinnakers restaurant that evening. The dinner was a six course degustation menu with each course paired with ‘beer cocktails” such as the marinated salmon with dill, lime juice, yuzu pearls and brussels sprouts paired with a cocktail of Woodford Reserve Bourbon, fresh lemon juice, San Servolo APA beer, home-made Istrian rosemary syrup and Aromatic bitters,

or the beef cheek filled tortellini, curd foam and egg yolk paired with Herradura Plata Tequila, fresh lime juice, Brouwerij Boon Kriek beer reduction, aromatic tonic and a sea water spritz. The lamb was paired with beer!
It was a very enjoyable night the cocktail guy and staff were very friendly and happy to chat about how they paired the cocktails and food. This was the first time they had done this type of event at a beer festival but I don’t think it will be the last.

The next evening the beer festival properly kicked off so we spent the morning exploring Porec and it’s 2,000 years of history... and it’s picturesque harbour, cute narrow streets, medieval architecture, blah blah and its cafes.

The festival was held in a large marquee on the harbour front. It was very well organised, you loaded money on a wrist band (and reloaded again later!) then used that to buy beers from any of the 18 different local craft breweries stalls. Each brewery was offering 4 or 5 different beers so there were plenty to choose from... pacing was a must, so was making sure we didn’t both order the same beer.

Bea’s beer of the festival was an organic wheat beer from the female team at Kampanjola brewery, while mine was a red rye IPA by the guys at LD Brewery. Oh and the burger from Burgerija was pretty good to! We were about to head back around 9.30pm when the band started up.. oh well maybe one more before we go!

The Istrian Truffle festival is held in the small town of Livade over about 10 weekends in Autumn, white truffle season. So that’s where we headed the next morning.
The festival is actually organized by Zigante, the major company in the Istrian Truffle business who manufacture a surprisingly diverse range of truffle products. From fresh white truffle to truffle chips and truffle chocolate!

The festival offered tastings of the truffle products as well as other local products such as wines, cheeses, hams, sausages and of course olive oil. You also had the opportunity to go on an ‘demonstration’ truffle hunt, at least they were up front about its authenticity. We registered for the hunt, wandered the pavilion tasting products, Bea’s Happy place, then went to find lunch.

The Zigante restaurants next to the pavilion were a tad expensive so we wandered a little way down the road to the other restaurant in town, a casual, laid back local place serving simple home fare (with truffle) at significantly more reasonable prices.
It was so casual and laid back that Bea had to go back and change our hunt time.
Talk about a long lunch... and all I had was scrambled eggs..with truffles!

Following the truffle hunt, where the dogs managed to find both ‘planted’ truffles as well as a small true truffle, we purchased a few truffle related products, including our first, small, fresh summer (black) truffle, then drove up the hill to the campsite at the iconic hillside town of Motovun. Dinner- Entree of local truffle sausage with truffle cheese followed by penne with truffle cream sauce and fresh truffles. Ok tomorrow steak!! And no bloody truffles!

Motovun is not only a charming medieval hilltop town 270m above sea level, but also the birth town of Mario Andretti who was a bit of a motor racing idle of mine in my youth, though I was certain he was born in Italy! It turns out that in 1940 when he was born, this area was actually part of Italy, it then became part of Yugoslavia after WWII and is now Croatian. It still staggers me how much change has taken place in Central Europe in the recent past. Apparently Mario got the passion for racing haring down the towns steep streets in home made billy carts. Funny how my brother first started in racing the same way and, like Mario, he made it all the way to F1 albeit as a designer rather than a driver.

From the hill top we could hear the faint screams of engines and gear boxes under stress so in the afternoon we walked through the lower town to investigate. What we found was the Motovun off-road time trials. Basically guys, and a couple of girls, jump into 4wd’s, ranging from fully custom off road buggies through backyard rebuilds to at least one that still had its pop top roof tent attached and tail, bounce, drift and stall there way round a pretty torturous course as fast as they can, while spectators drank beer and cheered them on. Not quite F1 but everyone seemed to be having a lot of fun.

That night we headed back up to the old town for dinner in the Kaštel Hotel, where we dined beside the cosey fireplace, couldn’t believe we had been swimming less than a week ago!

Between 1902 and 1935 the Parenzana Railway served as a crucial lifeline through Istria, providing producers in the hinterland with easier access the larger market towns and ports. The rail fell into disrepair after its closure but was revitalised from the the middle of the 2000’s as a 116km long walking and mountain bike trail from Trieste in Italy, through coastal Slovenia to Porec, Croatia. The stretch adjacent to Livade is regarded as one of the most picturesque sections and includes several tunnels and viaducts.

The next morning we parked the car and took a 30km stroll slowly winding our way up along the old rail route over the viaducts and through tunnels to the town of Zavrsje before heading back down to follow the Mirna river back to the car. It was a very picturesque walk and would have been incredibly enjoyable if I had spent a little longer breaking my new boots in. Let’s say I did the last 800m in bare feet!

In the afternoon we headed back to Opatija, just outside Rijeka where the van was booked in for its makeover in a couple of days time and we needed to give it a thorough clean, including the roof that had 10 years of road grime and mould that needed removing- Tuesday’s chore!
Wednesday we left early, dropped the car off at the salon, then headed into central Rijeka where we had rented a small studio apartment for a couple of days.

Rijeka is a true, working class, port town, not some ponced up, sycophantic, tourist hotspot. Its not that tourists aren’t welcome, they are- ‘by all means come, but don’t think we are going to get all gooey and starry eyed, we wont pander to your quaint desires, take it or leave it, we have our lives to get on with’. The people are friendly not patronising the town is picturesque but with very visible rough edges, I loved it. We spent two days just wandering enjoying the town, its docks, its limited attractions, its cafes and its markets.

We picked the car up Friday evening, the guys had done a great job but were still pushing to get it finished when we arrived at 7.00pm- we finally left at 9.30pm, after sharing a beer, and headed to Opatija...again.

We went to head off the next morning but the battery was completely dead! ‘Travelswithmycocker’ tried to give us a jump start but no luck. A few hours later the roadside assist guy came, changed the 10 year old battery and we were on our way, drove an hour or so to a camp that was closed, went to reverse out.. no camera.. bollocks, phone call, a meeting with Autosac in a truck stop, then back to @#v$% Opatija again
The guys at Autosac met us at 8.00am the next morning and got the camera working. Problem appeared to be with the wiring for the original camera that was in the van when we bought it. Fixed and on our way... to Split.