A bit of beauty and wonders of Nature I experienced last month in the surroundings of my hometown Pula.

Ever took a bath in a natural whirlpool bathtub made by waves? On the east Istrian coast, somewhere between Ližnjan and Šišan, there is a small gravel beach shielded from the open sea by an inclined rock. The water is shallow so it’s perfect for a lazy marination of your exhausted body and soul But when bura is strong enough, the waves get enough energy to overpass the rock, turning into a strong sea water jet that creates millions of bubbles and strong currents. Who needs expensive spa & wellness treatments when they can be found for free?

Near Ližnjan there are fields of intense red color descending to turquoise sea surface. Here, red onions of excellent quality are produced. The east Istrian coast is also great for off-road biking, with plenty of hidden beaches just for yourself and aromatic herbs that just wait to finish in the kitchen.

Fažana is a small village just 10 km Northwest from Pula, famous for its fishing tradition and splendid sea promenade ideal for taking a drink during the sunset. It is settled just across Brijuni national park. Last weekend I was there to take a boat to Mali Brijun island where, in an old Austrian fortress, The Tempest from Shakespeare was staged by Ulysses Theatre.

The trip to the island was more fascinating than the play. During the sunset, I took a photo of two islands floating over the sea in front of Rovinj. The sky was full of fast moving clouds, the sea had color of mercury, the light was changing like in an amusement park. Finally, the sun went down. The boat was slowly approaching the island over which a dark cloud appeared with apparent intention to stay there. It seemed like we were haunted by the magician Prospero, main character of The Tempest, who raised a real tempest on the horizon quickly approaching to us.

In the summer it is unthinkable not to go to the beach at the tip of Istria, in Rt Kamenjak Nature Park (here is my last visit in April).

From Pula. A hidden backyard and a small garden so well protected from the cold winter winds that banana trees manage to grow.

After a great success last year, Punishment Party is back again with the slogan “The home is the humper”. If you love this blog, and you happen to be in Istria, you are more than welcome to join the party (more details below). There won’t be much of Istrian gastronomy and wines, but dancing until the dawn is guaranteed.

The place is the same as last year – on a farm with an olive grove, located on the outskirts of Medulin, just 800 m from the sea. Here is a PDF which explains how to come to the party (right click, save as)  http://manjada.org/arrival-punishment.pdf

Here is also the google map that will help you find the party place. Remember, when you arrive in Pula, follow signs to Medulin, then once you arrive in Medulin follow signs for Hoteli/Hotels. The last hotel will be Hotel Belvedere and from there you can use the map below.

View Arriving to the Punishment party in a larger map

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Two DJs from Trieste are coming with their vintage vinyls:
DJ Barbara Loden
DJ Renato

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This year we have a novelty – a VJ (Video Disc Jokey) will take care of your visual enjoyment.

VJ Kaze from Pula/Zagreb

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Official party drink – Sangria made according to an old Catalan recipe. Free for everyone!

PLEASE BRING SOME DRINKS TO THE PARTY! No high gastronomy and fine wines this time. Some good vodka is highly appreciated to be mixed with some good frozen fruit shake.

The tip of Istria is situated in Nature Park Cape Kamenjak - Rt Kamenjak

Since I was a kid I was fascinated with places situated at some geographical (or political) discontinuity – tips of an island or peninsula, river mouths, affluence of two rivers, mountain tops, high cliffs, but also borders between two countries… It’s where one world ends and another starts. Definitely, these points in space possess a special kind of “energy”.

Today I chosen to visit the southernmost point of Istrian peninsula situated in Cape Kamenjak – Rt Kamenjak Nature Park . I often go to Kamenjak, especially in the summer when it becomes a popular beach spot among locals and tourists, but I have never been on the very tip of Cape Kamenjak.

To arrive there, after entering the Nature Park, just follow the signs for The Safari bar (by the way, one of the coolest bars I have seen around the World). From the bar head to south-east and after 15 min of walk through maquis (or along the coast) you arrive at the tip. Here incredibly white and dangerously sharp sea-rocks are retreating and giving place to the sea. 270 degrees around you there’s just water and wind. A look at the water surface reveals a strong stream, so powerful that, even in the summer, nobody dares to enter into the sea here.

Abstract sculpture made by Nature

Some 50 m towards west the atmosphere is calmer. You find a hidden creek with crystal clear green water, sheltered by the nearby hill from the strong wind, bordered by sea-rocks eaten up by the sea – it seemed to me as if some contemporary artist has put his installation there .

Just above the creek there was a lot of wild asparagus (here is my previous post about foraging for wild asparagus and a recipe for Istrian sushi with asparagus) but I didn’t pick any – a sign warned me that the land around the tip has the status of highly protected area and any plant picking is strictly forbidden.

At the end, to test you wild asparagus picking capabilities, here’s a game for you. How many wild asparagus are there on the picture below?

How many asparagus are there?

Most people say four but the correct answer is five. This was quite easy because they were coming out of the grass and this is quite rare, more often these delicate beings are hiding in the bush and you need to have an eagle eye to quickly scan the Mediterranean shrubland (macchia) and spot the prey.

In the next post: How to make a juicy pasta with wild asparagus without cream or butter.

To come by car from Italy to Croatian Istria you need to pass some 25 km through Slovenia. About 8 km counts on the highway between Trieste and Koper/Capodistria, but beware, to use highways in Slovenia you must first buy highway vignette (toll sticker) and stick it on your windshield. The vignettes have various duration and prices: one week – 15 EUR, one month – 30 EUR and one year – 95 EUR.

If you will use this tiny piece of highway only twice (on the way to and back from Istria), and you don’t have plans to visit other parts of Slovenia during your visit/holidays, it is stupid to spend 15 EUR (or even 30 EUR if you stay more than a week) for these 16 km. There is a solution – drive on the local road from the Italian-Slovenian border to Koper/Capodistria.

The trip will be 5-10 minutes longer but you will save money and drive on a nice panoramic road through olive groves and vineyards that ends with a beautiful view on the Koper bay. Unfortunately, Slovenian authorities did everything they could do to hide it from tourists. Here is the google map where I marked the road that needs to be taken, but I doubt that it will be of any use if it’s your first time in the region.

View Italy – Istria without Slovenian vignette in a larger map

So, as a gift for all readers of Manjada I prepared a PDF file that, with the aid of photos of actual crossroads, visually explains how to find that local road and which directions needs to be followed. Download it, print it and keep it in your car. I am sure you won’t get lost!

Here is the english version.

Dall’Italia all’Istria croata evitando la vignetta slovena

Per arrivare in macchina dall’Italia all’Istria croata si deve attraversare 25 km di strada in Slovenia. Circa 8 km si fa sull’autostrada Trieste-Koper/Capodistria, ma state attenti – le autostrade in Slovenia sono soggette al bollino autostradale (la vignetta) che si deve comprare e applicare sulla parabrezza. Le vignette hanno varie durate e i prezzi – una settimana – 15 EUR, un mese – 30 EUR e un anno – 95 EUR.

Se userete questo piccolo tratto d’autostrada solo due volte (andata e ritorno per/dal Istria), e non avete intenzioni di visitare altri parti di Slovenia durante le vostre vacanze, e uno spreco spendere 15 EUR per questi 16 km (o anche 30 EUR se rimanete in Istria per più di una settimana). La soluzione esiste – prendete la strada locale dall’ex confine italo-sloveno (valico Rabuiese) verso Koper/Capodistria.

Il viaggio sarà 5-10 minuti più lungo, ma risparmierete il denaro pur godendo la bella strada panoramica attraverso olivetti e vigneti che finisce con una bella vista sulla baia di Koper. Sfortunatamente, le autorità slovene hanno fatto tutto per nascondere questa strada dal povero turista comune. Sopra potete trovara la mapa google sulla quale ho marcato la strada che si deve prendere, ma dubito che vi sarà tanto utile se venite per la prima volta da queste parti.

Dunque, ho preparato un regalo per i lettori di Manjada – un file PDF che, usando le foto degli incroci attuali, spiega in un modo visuale come trovare questa strada locale e quali direzioni si devono seguire. Scarica e stampa il documento e tienilo nella macchina. Sono sicuro che non ti perderai!

Qui la versione italiana.

I received a recommendation from a close friend Iva: “You should visit an agritourism in Zrenj, they serve only the food they produce” – she said. Well, if I am well informed, agritourism facilities in Croatia are allowed to serve ONLY the food they produce otherwise they must register a restaurant (and consequently pay more taxes). But this often works only in theory. Not every agritourism is a real agritourism.

Zrenj is far away from my hometown Pula, up in the hills near Buzet (North Istria), that means it’s more than 1 and 1/2 hour drive. One Sunday in last November I decided to test Iva’s recommendation. It was a real Indian summer day, perfect for an adventure where hidden Istrian enogastronomic delights need to be discovered.

Motovun in November

Arriving in Zrenj is not straightforward, you need to be equiped with a good map or GPS. We pass Motovun, a beautiful medieval town in Central Istria – its houses and city walls have embraced the hill in a spiral way. We proceed to Livade where there is traditional truffle festival “Tuber fest” (here – a poetic HD video about the event). Imagine, 1 kg of extra class white truffles costs 3500 euros! A bit of mathematics – for a portion of white truffles tagliatelle you need 5-10 g of this precious mushroom, therefore a single dish would cost 17-35 euros. The vendors keep the truffles under the glass bell, and with a good reason.

Istrian white truffles

Lifting the bell for a second or two is enough to fill up the whole exposition tent with an intense truffle aroma. If you love it you feel like in heaven, otherwise you might get sick. Some irritating folk music, too crowded atmosphere and our hunger puts us again on the road.

We go up in the hills toward Oprtalj. The roads is becoming steep and curvy, but the view on the Mirna River valley and its oak forest, home of the famous Istrian white truffles, is breathtaking. Soon, we arrive on the plateau of Oprtalj and the road becomes nicer. A slow drive along vineyards, olive groves and green meadows is relaxing, it starts raining but only for a while. The Sun reappears and projects a double rainbow on the clouds.

Finally we arrive in Zrenj, a small village settled at the end of a dead end road – we have come at the edge of a plateau. The view is outstanding, green impenetrable woods below us, white stony mountains on the horizon. So much open space all around me that I almost feel the air is touching me, it feels like being stoned but in a good way. And I wasn’t drink anything today, I swear! (yet)

Chicken coop of agritourism "Tončić" Zrenj

One last turn left, and we arrive in front of the destination – Agritourism “Tončić”. It’s an old stone house with terrace, a large yard and 150 years old mulberry tree. At the opposite end of the yard I spot a large and well maintained chicken coop where big and healthy chickens, and few roosters, were having a relaxing afternoon walk. Here, I’m pretty sure of it, the cook use this beautiful, almost wild animals to make a delicious chicken ragu.

My stomach growls. Let’s go inside and see what’s on the menu.

To see the slideshow click for full screen or as normal post.

Last week birds timidly started to sing in the nearby wood
It was getting slightly warmer
People thought the long and cold Winter finally decided to leave us
But no, Winter got offended for our impatience
So, four days ago sent terribly strong and cold wind:
The mighty Bora.

I was brave enough and took a walk near the sea.
Instead of birds, 150 km/h was now singing to me.

UPDATE 10th March 2010, around 1 PM

Man against nature. 1h ago I was almost pushed into the sea by STROOONG Bora wind on Molo Audace in Trieste. Pure adrenaline!!! Then, a terrific snow storm came. I almost had two car accident, everybody on the streets was completely lost and frightened. Unfortunately, I took a steep road leading to Carso highland. While the crazy Bora was blowing, I had to mount snow chains on my car – an awful experience but (I don’t know how) I was skilled enough and finished mounting in less than 10 minutes. Ah, what a day. I am feeling so alive now.

Yesterday my hometown Pula got the most beautiful Christmas present you can imagine – 30 cm of snow!

Riding horse in front of Pula's Roman Amphitheater

If you live more North this might seem peanuts, but here on Mediterranean it is something special since it comes so rarely. They say this is the biggest snow Pula had in the last 30 years. Nice thing I noticed on the streets – people immediately forgot all worries, they got in a good mood and became happy.

There was a guy was horse riding in the downtown. I presume he must have enjoyed very much the trip from Marčana, a village 25 km from Pula.

Nobody here is prepared for snow, so the town is completely blocked – the shops are closed, people have difficulty to come to work, the branches of olives, pines and palm trees broke under the weight of snow. For example, see the picture below on the road leading to Pula’s municipal beach Lungomare.

Thanks to Milan's main chef Katarina (on picture) I got this beautiful photo

It was also fun in Restauran Milan, the most famous fish restaurant in Pula, where the waiter made a mini snowman on the bar desk.

Mini snowman in Restaurant Milan

Since people are afraid of driving the streets are now virtually car free. A heaven for kids who started to build snowmen all around the town. They even used the statue of James Joyce to make one.

That’s it for today. I am going out to enjoy the real cold winter on Mediterranean. Enjoy the photos.

James Joyce turned into snowman

Sergius' Arc under snow - Pula

Roman amphitheater under snow

Pula's coastline under snow

Hotel Riviera Pula

September is the vintage time in Istria. It is time to join a grape harvest and see for yourself where the wine is born. I presume many winemakers, especially the small-scale ones, will accept your help with great pleasure since most of the grapes in Istria are hand-picked and there is never enough work force.

On the T-shirt: “Let’s go to the party”

Today I joined the harvest of Istrian Malvasia in Bruno Trapan’s vineyards near Šišan (here are here are previous posts about him and his wines). The weather was nice and a light sea breeze refreshed us throughout the day, a perfect Indian summer day. The grapes were ripe and healthy that surely required a good work in the vineyard. In fact, a great amount of work and devotion since from the last year Bruno adopted the techniques of biological (organic) farming.

Picking grapes was easy and fun thanks to many nice people I met there, all of them Bruno’s friends or in the family. You pick grapes, and you talk, talk, talk… About life, universe, wine, food, good restaurants, balsamic vinegar, philosophy, connection of science and art, archeology, movies, politics, how facebook is bad and that nothing can replace good old-fashioned face-to-face chitchat.

It is easy to pick grapes when you are a kid.

Even the kids helped us a lot. They showed me an old oak in the neighborhood equipped with a hidden tree house. It is probably serves as a watchtower to local hunters. Here they hide and wait for wild boars to appear, and then BANG!!!

Hunters’ watchtower in an old oak

In fact, Bruno had so many problems with wild boars eating the sweetest and ripest grapes. So, this year he installed an electric fence around the vineyard. It seems it works fine.

Electric fence against the wild boars

At about 2 PM we had lunch served on the heaviest table I have ever seen. Essentially, a massive stone of cylindrical shape and diameter of about 6 m! As impressive as the food we ate – sauerkraut garnished with smoked and fresh pork, ćevapčići, potato salad, šopska salata (cucumber, tomato, onions and feta together).

The heaviest table I have ever seen

The drinks at our disposition, many cases of Trapan’s wines and liters of beer, caused such a cozy laziness that continuing work in the afternoon was a great challenge to many of us.

Fuck facebook when you are in a good company

The truck is departing for winery in Pula

But even with this relaxed approach to work, in just two days around 18 tons of Istrian Malvasia have been manually picked. Now everything is in the hands of Bruno to whom I am sending best wishes in this critical period of vinification. I am already looking forward to try Malvasia 2009.

View Trapan’s vineyards in a larger map

Last fifteen years have been very exciting for food and wine enthusiasts residing in or visiting Istria. We witnessed a renaissance of istrian traditional dishes now proudly appearing in its original or modernised form in every decent restaurant, konoba (it. trattoria) or agritourism. Istrian extra virgin olive oil repeatedly receives international prizes, while wine of excellent quality started to come out mostly from small and family owned wineries.

Ask anybody in Croatia and you will hear the same. In Istria in general you eat and drink better than in any other part of the country. Yes it is true, under few condition.

You live in Istria, or you visit it for years so that you are able to find in a second an obscure middle-of-nowhere country road that leads to a good agrotourism, winery or local farmer. No matter if it is an hour drive and a possibilities to get lost and remain hungry are considerable, you decided to hit the road since you must had heard from some friends this place is definitely worth to visit.

If you come here for the first time and have only few days available, chances that you will end up in a expensive and horrible tourist trap restaurant are quite high, especially if you lodge on the west Istrian coast. This blog will try to discover some hidden treasures of Istrian enogastronomic world and share it with you – courious visitor of Istrian peninsula. Off the beaten tracks, far away from places crowded with tourists, tasting local food, wine and spirits straight from the producer. Let the journey begins!