One the most beautiful cities in the Inland of Istria, is Motovon also called the queen of Mirna valley, our friends’ has a house in the town of Motovun, so we go there from time to time, Motovun is situated truffle region (Buzet, Motovun and Groznjan), which is 20 minute drive from the coast, The city has become known for its Film Festival which takes place in late July each year, but do to its picturesque location, it is also favourite residence for artists.

If you come from the coast around Porec and drive to Višnjan to get to Motovon, the road is not to good, but as compensation you have lots of winery along the road, where you can buy wine for the holiday, my secret tip would be to by wine by Bebo in Visnjan.

Motovun is situated on a hill top, (277 m. above sea level), you can park at the bottom of the hill, and take the walk up, which would take you about an hour, if you are a bit lacy, you can also bring your car a bit close to hill top, but even if you are lucky to find a free parking lot, you still would have to climb a bit, but I guarantee it is worth your while.

The old centre of Motovon is surrounded by a city wall, you can walk around main part of the old city centre on the wall, which I can highly recommend, as you have an amazing view over mirna valley, from the valley you can also see the Adriatic sea, although it is 15 km away. The walk around the wall takes about 30 minutes.

If you have time plan to eat lunch our dinner as you can get lots of nice truffles dishes in more or less all of the restaurants. – have a look at our friends page to see which once the recommend.

If you visit Motovun I will also recommend to stop by at the city Groznjan which is situated on a hill top between the coast and Motovun, the town is a popular excursion point especially from Umag which is only 10-15 minutes from Groznjan. Groznjan is known for its galleries, although the city is not very big, there is more then 15 galleries in the town, in the summer there is excellent cultural program, whit jazz, ballet and dance acts, as far know they even run some summer school type of program.

Also in Groznjan you can find excellent dishes with the truffle, if your are lucky even with the white truffle, which is the area’s culinary highlights.

This is an excerpt from a Danish news paper article from 2008, about the truffles in Istria:

“Truffles

Truffles, in the forests around the Mirna River Istria, is  probably the most delicious truffles in the world. It is said that there an illegal traffic across the border, because the truffle hunters, can get a high price when the truffles are sold in Italy as ‘Italian truffles’.

Visit for example the city Livade which is the truffle center. Here you can in addition to the black truffles also get the rare white truffles, which this year goes to the measly priced at 5 / 7000 Euros. kg. “

Popularity: 2%

Related posts:

1. Hunting truffles in Istria
2. Istria | Guide | All you need to know