Today's tour was optional, but 11/12ths of our group opted to sign up. A local guide met us at the hotel and we boarded our usual bus to drive west from Opatija inland, to the heart of the Istrian peninsula. The drive through the mountains was very scenic.
Most of Istria now belongs to Croatia, but the northern sections of the peninsula belong to Slovenia and to Italy. We are not far from either border, and this is a place where cultures merge.
We arrived at the village of Motovun. Celts and Illyrians lived here in Roman times, when the town had the name of Montona. When the city-state of Venice ruled these parts, in the 14th-17th centuries, they called it Montona d'Istria. About 40% of the village population still speak Italian as their first language.
As the name Montona implies, the village is situated at the top of a mountain. Our bus could only take us part way up. From there, a smaller shuttle bus brought us to the outskirts of the village. From there we walked up hill on the main street of the village.
This area is one of three main places in Europe where truffles are found. One is in France, another in Italy, and the third is here. Several shops here specialize in truffles, and we were brought to one for a bit of a lesson and rather generous samples of several types, plus samples of local wine.
Our group continued up hill to the old city walls, parts of which date from the 12th century, though the main gate through the wall bears the coat of arms of Venice. We walked part of the ancient walls and admired the panoramic view. The steep hillsides made for natural defense, as well as excellent vineyards.
After completing our wall walk, we had more than half an hour on our own. Shoppers looked for the pricey truffle delicacies and other souvenirs. We spent our time in a shop that specialized in brandy and chocolate, and which was also very generous with samples of both.
After taking the shuttle back to our bus, we were driven a short distance down the mountain to a spot in the woods with absolutely nothing around. Our local guide walked us a short distance into the trees where we were introduced to a truffle hunter and his dog.
With translation through the guide, we learned that truffle hunters must be licensed to work on public land, and that almost all of them train their own dogs (in France, truffles are hunted by trained pigs, but dogs do the work here). The mixed breed dog was extremely friendly, and loved the attention from the tourists. But at her master's command, she was all business.
The bus turned toward the east once again, through the mountains, but detoured to the tiny village of Hum, which bills itself as the tiniest city in the world. Certainly, there are places as small or smaller than the 28 residents of this unincorporated village. But it's good marketing.
Hum has a restaurant, which served us an abundant and excellent meal. Lunch began with a bean soup and bread still warm from the oven. Main courses were beef with gnocchi and pasta with truffles. A couple glasses of wine were also included.
Hum's other claim to fame is an old house made into a museum, and operated by the same distilling company in whose shop we had enjoyed generous samples of brandy and chocolate in Motovun! The museum created late 19th century venues in various rooms, including a pharmacy, post office, school room, shoe shop, tailor shop, and of course, distillery.
Then the samples started. The company makes more than 20 different flavors of brandy, and we were welcome to try as many as we liked. There were also more chocolate samples, even more than had been offered at their shop in Montovun.
Well-oiled from wine at lunch and generous samples of brandy, we barely managed to stay awake on the bus back to Opatija. Once there, we decided it would be best to get some exercise. We walked the promenade along the sea for more than a mile, to the fishing village of Volosko, and then back. By then it was dinner time, but we didn't have the stomach for it.
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