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Wine is an inevitable part of Istria’s identity, and the wine roads are an organic part of the tourist offer. They are the first selective tourist project and the first one that does not relate to the sea and beaches. Representing a dynamically developing process of a traditional, cultural, economic and tourist nature, they receive over 130 thousand visitors a year. There are presently six wine roads in the Istrian region: in the areas of Buje, Porec, Buzet, Pazin, Rovinj, Vodnjan and Labin, including 88 itineraries/stations. Renowned winemakers are involved in the wine road project, striving to present their wines in an appropriate manner. The visitors first see the vineyards, then take a tour of the cellars where they are told about grape processing and wine keeping, and finally taste the products. Many winemakers grow their own olives and make prosciutto, pickled mushrooms and other products, including them in their offer. Numerous visitors choose to buy wine because it is much cheaper in the cellars than restaurants or stores. Both winemakers and their guests agree that a wine itinerary can be just as exciting as visiting a museum, a basilica or an important sporting event. Wine roads were a predecessor of agrotourism in Istria’s interior. Today, the county and the county tourist board support wine roads, especially their promotion. Wine roads contribute to human engagement in the preservation and reconstruction of the original ambient and traditional legacies, thus enriching the tourist product. In addition, the people of Istria have realized they generate loyal guests who come back not just during the season but in preseason and postseason, providing each winemaker with the opportunity to promote their wine and other products.

Source: press.croatia.hr

 Here are some useful links for you:

• Istria24.com
• travel guide for Istria
  
• all about Istria
  
• Videos from Istria
  
• Vacation in Istria

Pag cheese bears the international Superior Taste mark The famous Pag cheese produced in the cheese plant Sirena- Mala sirana in Kolan owned by Ivan Gligora, has recently been awarded two golden stars and the right to label this cheese with the Superior Taste mark at the international Superior Taste event in Brussels. This is the greatest award so far for this cheese that has thus been included in the circle of seventy top food products in the world.

Ivan Gligora’s Pag cheese bears the marks of Original Croatian, Protected Geographic Origin and Croatian Island Product, and HACCP system principles are applied in its production. Pag cheese is made from sheep milk produced by the domestic autochthonous breed of Pag sheep. Mature cheese is 6 to 12 months old and has a distinctive piquant taste and a characteristic smell. It is served alone and may also be grated and added to meat and seafood delicacies.

Source: press.croatia.hr

 Here are some useful links for you:

• Pag24.com
• travel guide for Pag
• all about Pag
• Videos from Pag
• Vacation in Pag

This season, restaurants and hotels in the tourist centers of Crikvenica, Selce, Dramalj and Jadranovo will offer tourists some thirty autochthonous Crikvenica dishes. Their originality is confirmed by a certificate issued by the Gastronomy Committee comprising experienced chefs and restaurant operators. The project is entitled Autochthonous Cuisine of Crikvenica – Our Intangible Heritage, and it certified the autochthonous cuisine and restaurants in the town of Crikvenica.

The project was organized by the Town of Crikvenica, the Town Tourist Board, and the Gastronomy Committee that decided to refresh the gastronomic offer of Crikvenica by food from the past. Unique in Croatia, this project is a contribution to the celebration of 120 years of tourism in Crikvenica. It is important to say that the chefs who wanted the certificate were required to pass a gastronomic course. 25 chefs, eight hotels and ten restaurants they work in were awarded the certificate. To maintain
the quality of the facilities and offerings, the certificate is issued for only a year, and the course for preparation of certified
Crikvenica dishes will be held every year for new interested chefs and restaurant operators. The presentation of the project dealing with the autochthonous cuisine of Crikvenica is number twenty in a series of quality cultural tourism projects organized by the Cultural Tourism Business Club, established in 2004 by the Association for Cultural Tourism attached to the Croatian Chamber of Economy.

Source: press.croatia.hr

Here are some useful links for you:

• crikvenica24.com
• travel guide for Crikvenica
• all about Crikvenica
• Videos from Crikvenica
• Vacation in Crikvenica

For most gourmands, not only in Croatia but also throughout the world, just the mention of mouth-watering truffles whets the appetites and brings a twinkle to the eye. Truffles are one of the world’s favourite delicacies, not only on account of their heavenly flavour, but also because of the mystery surrounding them – the “incontestable culinary kings” as the people of Istria refer to them.

There are numerous dilemmas related to the truffle. The first pertains to the method whereby they are gathered, as the truffle is hidden under the ground. Regardless of the fact that they are characterised by an exceptionally intensive scent it is impossible to locate them out of doors without the help of specially trained dogs.

Also, the truffle only grows in certain types of soil. In Croatia they can only be found on the Istrian peninsula where they flourish in the grey, clayish soil found in the Istrian interior, more precisely in the oak forest surrounding the town of Motovun and from Motovun northwards to Lanišce, along the Raša River heading southeast and in the environs of Pazin to the south of the peninsula. The people of Istria value in particular the white truffle, which is gathered in the autumn and is prepared as soon as possible upon its extraction from the soil. And that is why autumn in Istria and its small, specialised restaurants and rural farmsteads exude a special mood and atmosphere. This is true especially of the period from mid October to mid November when the Truffle days are held across all of Istria, a cornucopia of events that all have the same goal – to celebrate the unique Istrian truffle. During those thirty days the scent of truffles wafts from many plates, and visitors from all across Croatia and the world come to Istria to revel in the flavours of the world’s most famous aphrodisiac. The Truffle Days kicked off October 7th with a folk festivity in Sovinjak, a picturesque settlement in the Istrian interior from whose walls a striking view of the surrounding hills shoots out. The 14th incarnation of the popular “Tuberfest”, as the white truffle fair is known started that same day in the settlement of Livade, part of which is the selection of the largest and best looking truffle. The events in Livade continued over the coming days with agricultural products fairs, olive oil sampling and a truffle culinary festival. In November the Truffle Days move to the town of Buzet where on the 3rd and 4th the Flavours of the Buzet Region truffle weekend / gastro gathering is staged – an exhibition of truffles and other local products, an ethno and gastro offer, a course in preparing truffle-based dishes and a truffle “hunt” with accompanying cultural program. The Days will close in Livade where November 12th will see a festivity at the Zigante Restaurant to mark the 8th anniversary of the uncovering of the largest ever white truffle, which made it into the Guinness Book of World Records. For those who, in spite of it all, do not manage to come to the Truffle Days, here are a few restaurants whose quality the Istria County Tourist Board recommends: Zigante in Livade, San Rocco and Morgan in Brtonigla, Marino in Momjan, Igor and Malo selo in Buje, Pod voltom in Motovun and the Stara Oštarija, Toklarija and Vrh in Buzet.

Source: ?Croatia Tourist Board?

In the search for interesting indigenous souvenirs from Medimurje County our trail has lead to a family farmstead in Kotoriba where they make a very practical and attractive edible souvenir.

The souvenir, namely, is the very healthy oil extracted from the seeds of the pumpkin. The bottles are decorated with motifs of the Medimurje region.

Pumpkin oil made from naturally cultivated pumpkins are rich in substances that reduce cholesterol in the bloodstream, while the braver have dubbed it an aphrodisiac.

Pumpkin oil contains unsaturated fatty acids, a great quantity of beta-carotene, vitamin E and potassium. The lecithin in this oil helps prevent atherosclerosis (gathering harmful plaques on the walls of blood vessels which lead to heart disease), and contributes to reducing the level of cholesterol in the blood.

100 grams of pumpkin oil has 900 calories. If you are calorie wary, remember that only a small spoon of this oil is enough to impart its wonderful flavour to salads. And just like with olive oil, the best quality is extracted when using the cold pressing method of production.

Source: ?Croatia Tourist Board?

At the very border with Bosnia & Herzegovina, on the banks of the Una River, is Hrvatska Kostajnica – a small town that derives its name from the surrounding forests, rich in chestnuts. It is precisely the chestnuts that play the lead role in the traditional October event in Kostajnica – the Chestnut Fair at which the many lovers of nature, strolls, chestnuts and the traditional culinary specialities of the region gather.

The Chestnut Fair of Kostajnica has been held for seven years in the first weekend in October. As a part of the Kestenijada – the chestnut harvest on the surrounding hills and forests, the local populace from year to year does its best to entertain tourists who traditionally come to the chestnut harvest.

And so, besides the relaxing and entertaining harvest, a lavish culinary offer is also organised during the Chestnut Fair – all of the specialities are, naturally, made of chestnuts – visitors can sample cooked and baked chestnuts and many chestnut sweetmeats. Visitors can also participate in the harvest and in the traditional bicycle tour and other kinds of fun.

Hrvatska Kostajnica is a small town nestled on the left bank of the Una River. Historical documents dating from the year 1240 attest to its 762 years. The Croatian noble family of Zrinski left their mark in this town‘s history – they fought the Turks for Kostajnica, from which time the large fortress on the Una River dates.

Source: ?Croatia Tourist Board?

The unique gastronomic manifestation “Nin šokoladija” in whose final stages once annually tourists of the ancient town of Nin may enjoy, has a significantly greater effect than organising an attractive tourist event. The entire project was initiated five years ago by the Tourist Board of the City of Nin to promote the organised production of Šokol (an traditional smoked and cured meat) and through the hospitality offer promote the autochthonous values of their own region. Šokol is an original smoked and cured meat product which has been linked for centuries to the Nin area and is produced according to an traditional and well kept original recipe in the north-western part of the Zadar County. It is made from fresh pork neck from home reared pigs in a procedure similar to the production of pršut (smoked ham) – three to seven days it sits in clean sea water, then it is placed into cooked red wine and is then covered with a number of different spices (pepper, cloves, nutmeg) which is then “pushed” into the meat. It is tied with string in a special way, then after a few days it is smoke cured, an then place in the bura (special type of wind), which according to the inhabitants of the Nin region is the most important part of the curing of Šokol.

Namely, the unique microclimate which in itself joins together the bura wind brought from the sea and mountain air enriched with the scents and ingredients of medicinal herbs from Velebit affect the curing process and quality of the Nin Šokol. The production of Šokol has many hundreds of years history and is part of the family gastronomic tradition of the Nin region in which once livestock breeding and in its making even the youngest generations took part. Given that it was produced in very small quantities it was once served only to selected guests, and even today it is offered as a special delicacy. According to maintained tradition Šokol is eaten on the occasion of celebrating the apparition of Our Lady of Zecevo in 1516, where every year on the 5th of May and the 5th of August the faithful make pilgrimages by boat and on foot to the Island of Zecevo and after the holy mass traditional feast on Šokol. By stimulating its organised production for which the local inhabitants of the Nin region are showing increased interest, is a guarantee that in the future an increasing number of tourists will be able to enjoy in the flavours and scents of this original delicacy.

Source: ?Croatia Tourist Board?