A long day in our little red car today.

Heading north after Svetvincenat, Jeff had a destination in mind – the small village of Zrenj.  He had read about it somewhere and was intrigued.  We love intrigue.

We didn’t take this photo – a little stumped by our experience and forgot to take a photo (see explanation below) but I wanted to remember this oh so quiet little village.

Photo Credit – Google Images

We’re still intrigued, as when we finally arrived after many kilometers of winding, steep roads, some of them single lane with precarious drops on one side, we found the whole village was shut (or so it seemed).  No one was home.  We didn’t see one person, there were no stores or cafes open.  Very intriguing indeed!

Hum

On to Hum, the next destination on our list.  On the road leading to Hum, we came across this random field of stoneworks.  How interesting…..

Hum is listed as the smallest town in the world by the Guinness World Records, but I’ve seen smaller towns in Australia on our travels.  Just saying…..  In the 2011 census, it had a population of 21.

On its western side, the town is enclosed by walls and on the remaining sides houses are built into defensive walls.

A bell and watch tower was built in 1552 as part of the town’s defenses.

It seems that protecting your community was a high priority in the 1500s.

Two local industries support this little town – grappa and truffles, both of which are displayed with pride in little shops at the top of the town.   Plenty of tasty samples are on offer.

Grappa is not our most favourite spirit, but Jeff loves truffle.  Me, I just can’t stand the stuff and cannot work out what all the fuss over truffle is about, let alone the expense.  I even tried some truffle chocolate in the hope of being persuaded.  Sadly, still can’t eat it.

It seems we were zig-zagging our way across Istria looking for food.  We finally chose the town of Buzet for lunch, opting for savoury and sweet boreks.  I was getting quite addicted to the blueberry variety!  We sat in the park, eating and people watching, before heading off to our final destination for the day – Opitja on the east coast of Istria.

Jeff & Catherine xx