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ISTRIA |
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This
is Istria. The navel of Europe. A coffer full of secrets, wisdom
and the essence of the Old Continent. What about the key? You
have it inside, you can comprehend Istria with your soul, your
essence is hiding here. Immerse into this miniature planet and
you will discover beauty and the troth abaut yourself.
Istria is the largest Adriatic peninsula, heart-shaped red soil,
ancient Europe's closestMediterranean, almost reaching to her
heart. Your nearest true South, right here, below the Alps, in
Croatia. Here, where
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civilizations
and people meet, where cultures, customs and opinions are interwoven.
Searching for the Golden Fleece, mythical Argonauts followed the
River Ister as far as the Adriatic Sea. Isn't that our tiny River
Mirna, while the Ister gave its name to our peninsula? Or was
it named after the native Histrians? Stone ruins, the seven thousand
year-old home of ancestors, are visible on the nearby hills. In
the numerous towns you can gaze at 2,000 years of history, you
can acratch it with your nails: Roman amphitheatre, triumphal
arches, villas, Byzantine basilicas covered with gold mosaics,
medieval towers and town walls, large and tiny churches, Romanesque
buildings, loxurious Gothic and Baroque palaces, Austro - Hungarian
fortifications... |
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As
if all European history had been sublimated in this region: Histrians,
Romans, Byzantium, Ostrogoths, Lombards, Franks, Venice, Napoleon,
Austria-Hungary. Every century and every invader engraved, destroyed
and rebuilt a centrain trait, certain feature, sanctuary, shrive,
road, a certain seal of his age.There were armies and plagues,
prosperity and inspiration. Some came to Istria to rule, some
to enjoy the pastoral atmosphere, emperors and popes came here,
Casanova to make love, philosophers, saints and hermits to search
for the secrets of the Other World in the mundane repose. Roman
poets and Renaissance troubadours praised Istria in their verses,
Dante Alighieri described Istria in The Divine Comedy, Jules Verne
led his hero Mathias Sandorf through the caves and |
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underground
streams of the Istrian undeworld, James Joyce wrote here... Martial,
the most famous Roman epigrammatist, praised his native Córdoba:
"...more fertile than oily Venafro and as perfect as Istrian
oil in an amphora".
Istria is the homeland of olives,figs, almonds and grapes, the
homeland of innumerable little wonders. Istria is a park luxuriously
decorated with nature: fertile valleys, fields stretching as far
as the sea, the mountain of Ucka, more than 1,000 meters high,
brooks, waterfalls, rocks and sand, all together in this small
region.
A road may take You to a tiny church covered with multicoloured
frescoes and decorated with wooden statuesof saints made by local
craftmen. Istrians worship Jesus from Nazareth, because one is
closer to God and religion in this little church than in a magnificent
cathedral. You will find another local feature in these churches.
An unusual, unknown script, neither Latin nor Cyrillic, but the
Glagolitic script.This ancient Croatian script, which existed
only in this part of the world, was used throughout the centuries.
Graffiti, players, church registers, as well as important documents
were written in Glagolitic letters. Istria has its script !
The second road leads you to a plain inn or tavern where the wine
is considered to be the gift of gods. A modest, but delicious
dish will be offered on a tray or on crockery. Another miracle
- a truffle! A white truffle, a divine gastronomic speciality,
an aphrodisiac, tuber - mushroom which grows under the ground.The
third road will lead you to a village party, church or lay celebration:
the ancient "balun" dance on the square, archaic instruments
- roženice, mih and duplice, and two - part harsh song. Red-hot
sun immerses into the sea. The Istrian night |
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is beckoning you.Artists rush to Istria, because this enchanntress
intoxicates them, seduces them andfornicates with them. Whoever
comprehends Istria will always be faithful to her. Flavius Magnus
Aurelius Cassiodorus, an honourable gentleman and a senatour,
in the year 537 reduced all the words from this breviary into
a single sentebce: "Patricians lead a divine life in Istria". |
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