motovun east

Our starting point is Motovun – a unique magical little town-monument, especially renowned recently for its International Film Festival held every summer during the last week of July. Arising on the 227 metres high hilltop, it represents an incomparable scene of a typical small medieval town of Istria made of stone and surrounded by annular walls that offer a stunning view on the surrounding vineyards and on the famous park-forest of Motovun rich in truffles.

We continue to Zamask, situated on a hillock overlooking the Butoniga river, offering a wonderful view on the central Istria. It is known for the fact that in the period 1535-1797 a Venetian-Austrian state-boundary was passing in the midst of the village literally deviding the parish church of St. Michael itself! If we proceed towards Kašćerga, its unusual name deriving from the German word Kastern, denoting a place where local taxes were paid, we arrive in Butoniga – a settlement with surrounding hamlets spreading along a homonymous small river and a fairly large artificial storage lake Butoniga, today the major water-supply source of the entire Istrian peninsula.

By taking a climb we reach Marčenegla and then, riding along the main road Buzet-Prodani-Pazin, here we are in Cerovlje! Here do not miss the late-Gothic St.Trinity chapel from 15th century depicted by some nice frescos and 19 century parish church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Soon, we will arrive to Pazin – a true heart of Istria. First written records referring to the city as Castrum Pisinum appeared in 983 and presently, Pazin is known as a commercial, cultural and educational center of entire central Istria. Unique for its spectacular position above the carst abyssal cave, Pazin holds the medieval Pazin Castle – Kaštel (today, the Ethnographic Museum of Istria and the Municipal Museum are both in the castle) located on the verge of a 130 meters deep abyss. And that's why Jules Verne had been so thrilled by this sight so that he placed a part of the plot of his novel 'Mathias Sandorf,' written in 1885, right in this setting. Also, visit parish church of St. Nicholas with its magnificent, precious frescos and ribbed gothic vault with many colorful coats of arms of old noble families.