Best of the Adriatic

September 2014

Motovun
Wednesday, September 10th
65°F, Rain in morning

This morning we stopped at a small independent museum covering mostly WWI history. The northern mountains in Slovenia were the location of the most fierce and decisive battles.

We tasted 4 wines, a young white, their local red varietal called Teran, an aged Cabernet, and a desert wine. Too bad the owner didn't pour one of these 50 year old wines.

I wonder who's got room in their suit case for two bottles of wine?

Motovun
Thursday, September 11th
62°F, Rain

In the morning we walked the castle wall before leaving on our day trip to Pula, Rovinj, and Brtonigla.

Pula (on the northern Croatian coast) used to be a very important (pop=1.2M) center in Roman times but through the ages and different conquerors it declined into a ghost town. Today it's an important shipping port with 60,000 people.

As you can see above, the walls are really high. So, how did they stack the stone blocks so that they wouldn't fall over?

Answer: Five holes were drilled in the block. One in each corner and one in the middle. An iron peg was put in the hole and lead was poured in the hole to anchor the peg. Kind of an early Lego block.

For the next 2 nights we are staying in a former castle on the top of a hill.

The bus can only go half way up the hill. Then we must walk the cobblestone path to our castle suite. Small price to pay for such a charming town and wonderful view.

View of the peasants below.

The owner shared two hours of local stories about the war. Including a blow by blow description of the battles in these mountains.

On the way to Motovun we stopped for wine tasting and lunch at Boris Lasjak's award wining winery. http://www.lisjak.si/index.html

The largest number of truffles (both white and black) are found in the Motovun Forest. We heard the dogs at night hunting for truffles. We also saw a large number of olive tree orchards.

The big attraction in Pula is the ruins of the 6th largest and best preserved amphitheater. I couldn't get a good photo so here's one I copied from a post card.

This amphitheater was built in the year 7 AD. Now I don't feel so old.

The afternoon in Pula was a washout do to a heavy rain.

The rain let up a bit when we got to the town of Rovinj.