The hill towns of Istria are supposed to be like the hill towns of Tuscany according to the guide books, so we reserved a car for three days to explore the hill towns and Pula, a nearby city with many well preserved Roman ruins. Our host, Zjelko, kindly offered to show Tom the way to the rental car office, and they set off at 9:30 as the car was reserved for 10 am. Unfortunately, they didn't get back until 11:30 because the car was late being returned and they had sent it to the carwash to be cleaned. Then there were issues about the payment, and having to stop by the bus station, so it was 12:30 by the time we left town. Dark clouds and light rain lent a foreboding aspect to the drive. Things continued to go awry. First, we didn't find the A9 road which was supposedly nmissable, but all three of us (Laura was along for the ride) failed to see it. We followed what we thought was the main road from town to town, hoping to see where we were, but none of the tiny towns we went through were on the map, even though Tom, a known mapaholic, had purchased a ginormous and incredibly detailed road map. Finally we found our way to the A9, drove through one of the little towns we wanted to see and looked for a recommended restaurant which we never located. Finally, we stopped in Buje at 1:45 fearing everything would be closed if we waited any longer for lunch. We went into the only open place we found ( other than an unappetizing bar) and weren't expecting much. However, the very cute waiter led us to a back room with nice views of the valley and gave us menus listing all of the delicious Istrian dishes we wanted to try, including many with truffles. This area is known for truffles, in fact the world's largest truffle was found in Istria and we wanted to try some. Turned out to be a great lunch spot and Laura explained the various choices for us. We ended up sharing 2 appetizers, three primi piatti, and a side order of swiss chard with potatoes that was delicious. I picked ravioli with goat cheese and truffle sauce, Tom picked beef with truffles, and Laura chose gnocchi with a special kind of beef that is grown only in Istria. Her croatian teacher had told her to get it if she ever saw it on a menu. The appetizers were cheese with honey and walnuts, and a special Istrian prosciutto with figs. Following are the before and after pictures of the feast:
 |
| antipasti |
 |
| Laura looks at the array of food |
 |
| gnocchi with istrian beaf |
 |
| beef with truffles |
 |
| I can't believe we ate the whole thing! |
After lunch we walked back up the hill only to find that someone had parked behind us blocking us in! We walked around trying to find a place someone might have been going to but nothing was open in the area. We decided to honk if see if anyone responded and indeed, someone popped out and moved the car, but not before we wasted another half hour. We headed to a nearby town but of course got on the wrong road. By the time we finally got to one of the hill towns we wanted to see it was dark, but we looked around that town and another nearby, then headed back to Rovinj to get Laura to the 7 pm .bus. We were afraid she was going to miss it, so she and Tom ran ahead to get her bags and get to the bus stop, only to return 15 minutes later because the clock in the car was wrong and they were an hour early! Just one of those days when it would have been better to stay at home in front of the fire. At least the lunch was good, and we did get a nice shot of the "postcard view" of Rovinj.
Back in the apartment, no need for dinner after that lunch, time to nurse our colds and hope the huskies win tonight!
No comments:
Post a Comment