After two days well spent in Italy’s Venice, we were travelling to Croatia on Tuesday – through Slovenia. We’d hired a car and aimed for the little town of Motovun more specifically, where Robin owns a house. He’s actually thinking of selling the place and wanted to go there on a holiday one last time. Which is where I came in…
“Tell everybody I’m on my way, and I’m loving every step I take”. This road trip past Trieste also lead us to some pretty sights just over the Slovenian border. The radio in the car couldn’t be turned off though and after hearing “Pack up” (though a nice song) twice, we decided to mute it. Robin didn’t seem to mind making a few stops so I could take pictures and on one of the stops we found a place to have lunch. On another, I shot the snow covered Alps we could see from a distance. Meanwhile we found out this holiday together indeed was a great idea and people can learn a lot from each other. And so we philosophised our way to the next border, where we entered the ‘half-island’ of Istria.
The adorable village of Motovun was quickly visible on top of a mountain, but we had to drive past many olive trees and vineyards first. I love this variety in flora and fauna in different areas. And everything smells so nice here. The house had four cosy floors and a spectacular view – and it even came with a guitar! After settling in, Robin took me on a little tour on the top of that mountain, which ended in a restaurant selling every meal from starter to dessert with truffles. We were in the land of truffles and I had to try them. According to Robin they tasted like nothing else, and much better than caviar. I loved them.
And I loved the little restaurant too. The lady – who greeted us like old friends as she knew Robin, like everybody seems to know everybody here – also made sure we had milk with our tea that night. Wednesday morning, after waking up with a marvellous thunderstorm which only lasted half an hour or so, we went to the local supermarket for breakfast. While using ‘the longest steps of Europe’, which seemed the oldest too as the pretty stones were hardly recognisable as steps, we came past the local school, or škola. And all the buildings are so colourful here!
Croatia is a pleasure to all your senses. Breakfast included honey, from the lady who keeps her bee farm at the end of the street. And the elderberry jam tasted freshly made, which it was. The Sun quickly returned, inviting us to explore the beauty of Motovun during the next two days ahead of us.
