The unique region of Istria combines several unique specialities – wine, olive oil, truffles and salt. Istria in autumn has even more charm – the beautiful colours of autumn accompanied by warm and sunny weather.
We set off from Prague to Venice, where we moved on to Slovenia. To make the journey more pleasant and to refresh ourselves after the flight, we visited a beautiful Italian family winery right on the border between Slovenia and Italy, where we had lunch and did a wine tasting. Enrico and his family welcomed us with a garden party. After a multi-course menu and a considerable variety of wines, we made our way to the bus and continued our journey to the port town of Isola. We ended our travel day at a spa and a nice dinner at the hotel. After dinner, some of the participants went to the historic city of Isola in the evening.
The next day a varied program awaited us. After a delicious breakfast we went olive picking. The participants were so talented that they managed to pick over 10 kilograms of olives in a short time, which is approximately equivalent to 3 liters of virgin olive oil. After a short break, retro mini-vans were waiting for us, which we drove through almost the whole of Slovenian Istria with. The next stop was an olive farm, where we learned how olive oil is produced and what happens after it is harvested. Of course, there was also an olive oil tasting. On the terrace of the farm, we were first treated with tapas and then traditional bobici soup. To get to the main course, we first had to go truffle hunting as we had truffle pasta on the menu. After a successful hunt, accompanied by a trained dog, we returned to the farm again and finished the trip with a late lunch of fresh truffles. We had already booked a spa at the hotel and dinner followed at the hotel.
We dedicated the third day of our event to a bike trip to nearby Pirana. First, after breakfast, we took a pleasant walk to the centre of Isola, where the bikes were already prepared and waiting for us. Slovenia has unique cycling routes on the Istrian peninsula. We followed the tracks of the former railway – the Parenzana trail. Our destination was the town of Pirana. In Pirana we had arranged lunch in a famous restaurant that specializes in seafood. This was followed by a short walk through the town. On the way back we passed through another Istrian landmark, the town of Portoroz. On our last evening we had another tasting, this time of Slovenian wine and a tapas dinner.
