by bike to roč

We start with St. Martin from where we ride straight to Roč – a little town at 334 meters of altitude, firstly mentioned in the far 1604, although its beginnings reach until the prehistoric period when it was a ruined village. With its functioning writing and printing offices, equipped with masterly translators and experts of the three letterings; the Latin, the Glagolitic and the Cyrillic, during the middle age Roč was reputed a real academic ‘’factory’’ from where the known Žakan Juri (George) also announced the first Croatian printed book, a Glagolitic missal.

If you walk through its preserved remains of walls and towers, and churches of St. Bartholomew dating from the XV century, and of St. Anthony the abbot from the XII century, with important frescoes and prominent ‘’alphabet book’’ – one of the mostly known Glagolitic graphites, do not forget also to visit a refurbished renaissance house, sited by the local tavern, in which ground floor there is a reproduction of the Guttenberg typographic press. Once the site of the fraternity and the ongoing Glagolitic activity, Roč today is an exceptionally active cultural center, mostly known as the meeting place of the diatonic accordion players, the so called Triestina’s, so in case you find yourself here on the second Sunday of May, do not miss the cheerfully sounds of the traditional meeting called ‘’Z armoniku v Roč – With the accordion to Roč’’.

Risen at 153 meters of altitude, in the Roman times known as Pinquentium, the beautiful medieval town Buzet, today is mostly known ’’the City of truffles’’, considering that the surrounding forests along the valley of the river Mirna cover some of the best areas of the entire Istria for the hunting of this divine tuberous. If you find yourself around during the months of September or October, do not miss to visit ’’the Days of truffles’’, when the divine fragrance of this underground gold spreads across all the surrounding villages. From the fortified town under the reins of the patriarch of Aquilea during the middle age, and later dominated by several feudal families, the today’s Buzet draws its appearance prevalently from the period of its history under the Venetian dominion, from the year 1421 until 1797. And right from that period date back the walls and the two city gates, and if you ride through it, do not miss to visit the church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, engraved in a stone in the main town’s square, as well as the baroque fountain, one of the most beautiful amongst all the preserved fountains in Istria, already restored in the far 1789.

If you are a lover of antiquity, you just have to visit the Municipal museum of Buzet, with a rich archaeological, ethnographical and historical collection which includes several copies of medieval frescoes and of Glagolithic inscriptions.