Adriatic Adventure: Motovun, Croatia

Wow, it's been a while since I last shared my adventures in Croatia! Sorry about that! But never fear, there's plenty more where that came from. I left off in Rovinj last time, one of Croatia's lovely coastal towns in Istria. After our relaxing stay in Rovinj, we started to make our way to Plitvice Lakes National Park. But first, a pit stop in one of Croatia's best-known Istrian hilltop town: Motovun (moh-toh-voon).

If you're lucky and it's not too crowded, you'll be able to drive most of the way up and park near the top. However, chances are you'll only be able to drive part way up and will have to pay a small fee and park in a lot. There's an additional fee to take the shuttle bus to the top.

We opted to skip the shuttle bus and instead walked up the old Roman road to the top of Motovun. When you get to the top you'll be able to see vineyards as well as a ton of wine and truffle shops everywhere you look. 

There's not too much to do in Motovun in June aside from eat and shop for wine, but it's a charming little hilltop town that's worth a stop if you'd like a change from Croatia's coast.  Motovun is known for it's rather large film festival which generally occurs late July or early August.  We did, however, walk along the town's walls, as seen above, which offer stunning views of Motovun.

On our way back down from Motovun we noticed a bunch of lovely, intricate wood carvings by a man named Toni.  Having been unlucky with finding art on our last few trips, we were thrilled to find something so unique and affordable.  We ended up with a wood carving of Motovun itself, similar to the ones seen above my head in this photo.  If you're ever in Motovun, I highly recommend looking for Toni in one of the alleys; his art is wonderful!