ex - euphrasiana

Would you like to discover Istria by yourself, enjoy the Mediterranean atmosphere in the towns along the coast, enchanting small towns and the breathtaking landscape in the hinterland, choose the Euphrasiana trail and begin your ride in Poreč the town where you can find material and spiritual evidences of great cultures at every step and ride towards the hinterland. Ride along the old city centre and you will find there the Roman Forum which was once a fortified Roman camp, magnificent palaces from different historical periods, e.g. the “House of the two Saints” and the famous Euphrasian Basilica (Euphrasiana).

The complex of the Basilica and the three church naves are the most beautiful preserved monuments of the early Byzantine art from the 6th century included on the UNESCO World Heritage list in the year 1997. When you enter the Basilica and walk to the apse the breathtaking glittering mosaics will appear in front of you. If you look carefully at the mosaics depicting the procession of saints with the Mother of God and the Christ in the middle, among the saints you will also recognize the Bishop Euphrasy, the saint after whom this trail has been named, holding the model of the Basilica in his hand.

If you would like to see the city from the bird’s eye view climb the top of the church belfry and enjoy a magnificent view of the city and its surrounding. Leaving behind you the flurry of the city you can take a gravel path through the fresh-smelling pine-tree wood and continue along Plava Laguna and Zelena Laguna, a true paradise for tourists, to the hinterland. Passing through Mugeba, Fuškulin, Draćevac, Muntižana, Delići, Bralići, Gradina, Marasi and Stranići the trail will bring you to St Lovreč. You can stop for a while and walk in the small fortified town which has been inhabited since the 9th century and visit the Parish church of St Martin from the middle of the 11th century where you can find astonishing frescoes, a valuable statue of the Mother of God from the 14th century, a carved polychromatic polyptich and an organ from the year 1735.

Enchanted by romantic images of Lovreč continue along Šušnjići towards Žbandaj and take the road to Jehnići, Peršurići and Bačva, pass through the picturesque villages of Žikovići, Vežnaveri, Kosinožići, Antonci and St Portun and you will arrive in Poreč, where your adventure on the Euphrasiana trail, actually, began.