Croatia | Sea | Kayaking | Tours | Lifejacket Adventures - Adriatic Expeditions

During a drive around Istria this weekend we stumbled upon Draguć. Its just another small, picturesque, hill-top Istrian town, with a main street, square, water fountain, dirt streets and church - a dime-a-dozen around the region.

But after speaking to the owner of Buffet Zora (shown above), we discovered the town has even more to offer.

Of artistic value are the frescoes within the town’s small churches - Sveti Elizej and Sveti Rok. Sveti Elizej dates from the 12th Century, being Romanesque in style. During the 13th Century the church interior was decorated with frescoes depicting the life of Jesus.

Sveti Rok, a votive chapel, is of later origin, belonging to the Late Gothic Period (the first half of the 16th century). During that period the plague had killed many in Istria. The vaulted interior was painted by Master Anton of Padua.

But for us of the television generation more interesting is that Draguć is known by the locals as the Istrian Hollywood. Several films have been made there; whenever a small medieval village exterior is required by a studio the cameras and crew arrive in town. Look at La Femme Musketeer with Michael York and Nastassja Kinski, or Twilight Time with Karl Malden (whose real name was Mladen Sekulovich - his father was Serbian).

Credit has to be given Igor Popović for the picture at the top of the post.

Ranko introduced us to a local Motovan resident, Igor; a small olive oil producer. Igor told us many things - olive trees are best planted on the sunny-side of hill, between 150 - 350m above sea-level and in white soil with a neutral pH (not red soil, which has too much bauxite). On 5 hectares about 1 500 trees can be grown; in 10 years each tree will yield 20 - 30kg of olives which in turn will produce 2 - 3kg of oil. Oil sells for more than 10€ per liter. When Croatia joins the EU it is probable that no further trees will be allowed to be planted - so a rush is on at the moment to put more in. Igor said that Klaudio Ipša from Ipši is the best man around Motovun to ask further advice. The Istrian Tourism Board provides a map of olive producers.

Spring is wild asparagus season in Istria. Wild Asparagus looks like the cultivated variety but much longer and thinner. Julie found this recipe for using it:

Frittata with Wild Asparagus
500g wild asparagus
150g onions
8 eggs
50ml oil
10g salt
1g pepper

Rinse the wild asparagus and break their soft part into small pieces (about 3cm long) by hand. Fry with finely chopped onion until asparagus soften. Then add egg mixture, stirring lightly. When eggs stiffen, remove pan from heat and serve hot.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS