"We are convinced that you are about to get lost trying to figure a way to move across our wine roads, but it can happen to us local people as well. Istria is a country of numberless trails and small hamlets you set out for one hamlet and turn out in another but you needn't worry, there is good wine in there, too."
The signs were in Croatian and in Italian. The brochures added German, but rarely English. We never saw any other Americans all day. Another interesting quote from a local:
"My ancestors lived in Venice. My great-grandfather lived in Austria. My father lived in Italy. I live in Croatia. My son will live in the EU. And, we all lived in the same city."
The countryside is beautiful: very green, rolling hills, lots of vineyards, olive groves, hill towns and very narrow, windy roads. We explored the small hill towns of Groznjan and Motovun. Beautiful old stone buildings and sweeping vistas of the land below and out to the sea. The towns were very quiet--just right for wandering. Not much in the way of shops or cultural sights.
We then set off in search of vineyards, following signs on little roads that wound up and up, very sparsely populated with a deserted village or closed shop at the top--probably because it is too early in the season for these to be open. We saw beautiful areas, had our little adventure then got a bit frustrated. We stopped at a roadside cafe for espresso and asked the waitress how to find the wineries. She went and got an old man who spoke some English. We asked about wineries and he gave us the reply we hear most often here "It's simple". This time it was, 800m up the hill from the cafe we found a winery!!! It looked closed, but there were about 6-8 people who looked like workers gathered on a stone patio and lots of cats and dogs.
One man motioned inside a building when we asked about wine. It was a rustic tasting room with a small bar, tables and benches. There was a woman in a small kitchen making platters of small fried fish, sliced tomatoes, hardboiled eggs and olives for the people on the patio. She served them the food and came back in to pour us some wine. She spoke very little English, but was very good natured and welcoming. We tried the white wine that is a local specialty, Malvajia, it was very refreshing. She then served us another version of it, not as good. When we asked the difference, she took us back to the storage area with many big oak casks of wine and some stainless steel vats, we liked the one from the vat. We bought a few bottles, when we drove away everyone waved.We found another we had seen in a pamphlet, when we drove up to what we thought was the front door, a man came out of a big sliding door. Speaking very little English he led us inside a big storage area. When we showed him the pic we had of the big tasting area-he said it was in another town, Ummag, several kilometers away. He poured us some wines from some bottled on a desk. He was the guy pictured in most of the pics in the pamphlet. We bought a Merlot and headed out.
We decided to stop in a small hill town Brtonigla for dinner. We went to Konoba Astarea, recommended in a guidebook. We were greeted by a man who looked a bit like a thinner Archie Bunker (in a good way). He didn't speak much English. The menu was in Croatian, Italian and German. The restaurant had a terrace and an inside room with a hearth with glowing coals, a grill and a peka. The peka is a domed cast iron top you put over the food on the hearth and pile hot coals on top. He was cooking apple strudel in the peka (most often used for meat or fish).
We sat on the terrace. He came, pulled up a chair and told us the menu and what the thought we should get, even thought language was a problem, we understood all. We asked if he took credit cards because we were running low on kunas. He said no, but we shouldn't worry--"its not very expensive". We decided that if he wasn't worried, then we shouldn't. We felt like we were guests in his home and he was a most pleasant, gracious host. Kim ordered her favorite-scampi on the grill (they look like little lobsters 6-10 inches long. You break the tail off, shell it and eat it and the claws-so sweet) and the local white wine. Joe ordered mixed meat grill. He got a steak, pork chop, lamb chop and sausage. Also green salads and pommes frite (our host did not like this idea, he felt Joe should have boiled potatoes and spinach-but he complied with potatoes cut into rounds and fried "like a doughnut"). We finished with apple strudel and Joe had an espresso. We had exactly enough cash for dinner and tip-we were worried since he did not take cards and there was no ATM, but our host kept saying not to worry.
We finished dinner watching a beautiful sunset into the sea then drove back to our apartment (paying the toll in Euro's), getting lost multiple times but recognizing enough landmarks, we eventually found our way-relaxed, content and feeling very at home in Istria.
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