Wanderers : Croatia - Motovun and Buzet

Motovun: Motovun is a charming medieval hilltop town in Istria. It is perched on a hill 277 meters (910 feet) high, and offers stunning views of the surrounding countryside. The town has a population of just over 500 people. Motovun's history dates back to the 12th century, when it was founded by the Venetians. The town was originally a fortified settlement, and the remains of the fortress walls can still be seen today. Motovun was an important trading center during the Middle Ages, and its economy was based on agriculture, winemaking, and truffle hunting.

Buzet: The Truffle Capital of Istria. Buzet is a small town in Istria, known for its truffles. The town is located in a valley surrounded by hills, and the surrounding forests are a prime habitat for truffles. Buzet is home to the annual Buzetska Subotina truffle festival, which is held in September. The festival features a variety of truffle-related events, including a truffle market, cooking demonstrations, and a truffle-eating contest.

What did we do?

Motovun

Church of St. Stephen and Square Andrea Antico

St. Stephen's Church

15th Century Well

Bell Tower

Kulturno edukativan centar "Kaštel" (Cultural and educational center "Kaštel") we explored A History in Motion. We learned about Mario Andretti and we really enjoyed playing with the bow and arrows 🏹.

Water wheel

Mario Andretti

Videos

Town Gates and Gradske Zidine (city walls)

Buzet

Aura Distillery recommended by our friend, Kelly, and it was a great recommendation! Shortly after entering, we were offered a sample 'welcome' brandy. The gentleman then walked up with a meat, cheese and olive platter and told us he would put it at an outside table for us. Odd, we hadn't ordered it but it looked good. Once seated, he showed us the menu and told us to come inside to the bar for samples. I walked up to the bar and asked what the tasting options were. It tuned out we could have all the tastings we wanted along with the meat and cheese platter AND a tour of the distilery FREE. They specialized in brandy but also produced gin, whiskey, orange and lemoncello and more. We are not gin drinkers but the "navy strength" gin was so good we bought a bttle plus a bottle of brandy and jar of jam.

Orangcello Spritz

Tour of the Distillery

Old wine casks

Back to Tastings

Suha Smokva
Dry Fig

Gin & Tonic

Old Town Buzet we spent the afternoon hiking up to the Old fortress, it was pretty much the same as the other old towns except we visited on a Sunday and we had the entire town to ourselves for the most part. It was nice to be able to just walk around and take pictures and not have anyone 🙃 stand in front of us.

Break Time - More steps

Vela Vrata (The Great Gate)w

The uphill climb always wears
her out

St. Mary's Assumption Church
Built 1784

Maniristički portal - Stari grad Buzet
Built in the 17th Century
Displays a Count's Emblem

View from Bastion Buzet

Stara gradska pekara - Stari grad Buzet
Old Town Bakery - Old Town Buzet

Church of St. George

Ohhhh what's up there

Back Down

Trail of Seven Waterfalls is a 7.3 mile loop trail considered moderately challenging

It is supposedly one of the most popular hiking trails in Istria. We were pretty sure we would not make the entire loop and determined we could do a smaller loop. We use an app called AllTrails which for the most part works well.

First steep uphill about 5 minutes in

A bench, Break time

REALLY Sharon!
I think she was being a
little dramatic

Shrine in the middle of nowhere

Our first waterfall

Here is where Sharon swears I was trying to commit attempted murder. We missed the marker hidden behind tree branches and continued the hike up several very steep switchbacks before realizing we missed our turn. We then back tracked, found the trail we missed and determined that path was not going to work. So we just went back the way we came.

Back down we go!

This path was clearly marked

A garden in the middle of nowhere

We made it back to the bench

Motovun random pics

Buzet random pics

Where did we eat?

We enjoyed lunch at Restorant Kastel in Motovun.

They knew we were coming "reserved table"

Istrian Extra Virgin Olive Oil Tasting
With bread and cheese

Pizza Tartuf
Fresh black truffle, mozzarella and truffle sauce

There were not a lot of choices for restaurants in walking distance of our Airbnb in Buzet so we chose Pizzeria & Grill Smile Buzet (the closest). We enjoyed the food, service and prices. Our first night Sharon wanted a cheeseburger. It just looked like a place to get a really good burger but and that wasn't happening -- they were out of burgers.

Our second night we asked if they had burgers and she said all they had was the big burger. So the two of us were discussing 😏🤔 if we should just get our own. Good thing we only ordered one. I'll just say we will not be having a burger for a little while.