Istria by Bike
FROM THE NORTH TO THE SOUTH, from the eastern to the western Istrian coast, on nearly 2,600 kilometres spread the already plotted sixty bike trails. Istria County Tourist Board has published so far six brochures entitled “Istria Bike” with trails plotted in detail and descriptions of mostly circular tracks stretching on 1,500 marked kilometres. Other bike trails, yet to be plotted, have covered all Istria like a spider web.
About 70% of the trails are mountain ones, i.e. unpaved or forest trails, while others are paved. The most demanding trails are surely in the highest parts of Istria, Ćićarija, and require top fitness and skill.
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Wine roads of Istria
Many Istrians conceive wine a inexplicable unearthly sacred potion, a necessity and passion, the culture of living, as nourishment and liquor, prayer and a curse. Istrians have been historically devoted to the grapevine. A proverbial saying confirms it; Wine comes from grapevine and milk from a goat. Wheat is life, while wine is a myth and as our elders would say, The bread is for the flesh and wine is for the soul. Istria, this miniature continent and the largest peninsula of the Adriatic coast, slopes gently into the sea towards the eternally sunny southwest. The wine's bouquet and body is enriched by the special land structure, i.e. the red soil spreading over the littoral and the white soil covering the hinterland area. The vineyards spread over approx.15.200 acres of land. The western viticulture area (in the vicinity of Poreč, Buje, Pula and Rovinj) is the largest, its vineyards covering approx. 14.430 acres. The central Istria wine-growing hills (around Buzet and Pazin) spread over some 516.44 acres, while in the eastern part (near Labin), there are around 255 acres of vine grapes.
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Cave Baredine
Protected geomorphologic natural monument
Meet the mystical world of nature which has been developing for thousand of years, far away from the light of the day and the human eye. Visit the underworld the Baredine Cave. This cave is a treasure chest of stalagmites and stalactites, underworld sculptures created through time by the patient work of water. Such shapes have been created, some of which are exceptional, such as the 10 meter long and high curtains, a very realistic sculpture of Our Lady, the body of a milkmaid called Milka, the leaning tower of Pizza and snowman the torchbearer-who has become the trade mark of our cave.
In one of the atriums you will pass a crater that is 4m wide and 66 m deep which goes down to the underground lakes. And so through five halls, five galleries of abstract and realistic sculptures, a pleasant 40 minute walk, accompanied by our guide and custodian. The excitement of this adventure is also meeting the animals of the underworld. You will see the human fish and endemic animals that live only in this environment, miniature see-through crabs and insects.
At the cave's entrance there is a museum showcase where pottery of prehistoric man has been exhibited. Our far ancestors would probably leave the pots during the hot, dry, summer day to collect the precious water, drop by drop.
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