Do you believe in magic and giants?
This place will take you back to the middle ages as on the top of that hill sits one of
the best preserved medieval towns.
This is Motovun, a captivating hilltop town and a symbol of the Istrian interior.
Hi guys.
My name is Rok and I’ve spent the last 9 years travelling around Europe as a tour guide
and I can’t wait to show you around magical Motovun, Croatia.
As this is an old hilltop town you will have to do some uphill walking as the town is a
pedestrian only area.
But you will be rewarded by a spectacular view of a beautiful tuscan-like landscape.
This is still a breathing and living small town despite few empty houses.
Among many others there are also historical reasons for some of the empty houses.
Between the two world wars Istria was part of Italy and a lot of Italians lived in Motovun
when it was known as Montona.
After the second world war Istria became part of communist Yugoslavia and many Italian families
moved to Italy.
One of these Italian families from Motovun had a small boy that became a famous American
racing driver and F1 champion Mario Andretti.
Nowadays many of the houses are used as holiday apartments, although most people visit Motovun
as a day trip.
The entire town can be seen in a few hours, but here are also the unusual things you can
do.
One of them is truffle hunting.
Motovun is a capital of truffles, expensive underground mushrooms with distinctive flavour
and smell.
Apparently truffles are the ultimate natural aphrodisiac, but they also taste really nice
on pasta or sauce.
And old oak forests around Motovun are the richest ground where truffles are hiding deep
in clay.
Around town you will see shops selling truffles and all the restaurants have truffles on their
menus.
Here truffles are as local and organic as it gets.
Now let's walk to the major attractions of Motovun.
Motovun old town is still encircled by double town walls that are separating the town in
three parts.
To get to the old part inside the town walls you will first have to walk along the elongated
ridge of the hill, where the first part of the town, an old suburb developed.
Short walk will get you to the city walls and the main town gates.
Entrance to the old town is still through the main town gate ornamented with stone coat-of-arms
and the winged lion of St. Mark the symbol of Venetian Republic that ruled Motovun for
over 500 years.
Entering through the main gate you will find yourself on this elongated square.
I am sure you will be immediately impressed by it and its beautiful views, but this is
not a main square.
This is an external town Square.
The main square is hidden behind this massive Municipal Palace from the 13 century that
is the largest secular building in Istria from that time and also serves as an inner
defensive wall.
If you need a break from the walk you can sit and enjoy a drink or a meal with a spectacular
view.
At the very edge of this square is a loggia built in 16 century that serves as a view
point from where you can see the river Mirna at the bottom of the valley.
Next to it is a street leading to the lower part of the old town on the southern slope.
That part sits directly at the base of the inner city walls and used to be also encircled
by the outer walls of which only a small part still exists.
Next to the street are the inner town gates.
These Gothic gates from the 14 th century are leading further to the oldest part of
the town.
Once you enter through the inner town gates you will get to the very top of the hill,
the inner part of the town encircled by completely preserved inner town walls from the 13th 14th
centuries.
These town walls are the most preserved fortification system in Istria with well preserved square
towers, defensive walls and gates.
You can take a walk on the top of the walls to see the stunning landscape of the Istrian
interior.
When you walk on the walls you will probably see a big mural on one of the houses.
That is Veli Jože or Big Joe.
He was a good and gentle Istrian giant that according to the legend lived in the forests
around Motovun and is part of the magic in Motovun.
This is a spacious main square for a hill town, divided in two parts.
First part is surrounded by the Church of St.Stephen and a bell tower on one side and
a huge Municipal palace on the other.
Palace serves as a town hall and separates the main square from the external square.
Second part of the square has old trees providing nice shade for the restaurant terrace of Hotel
Kaštel.
Each part of the square has an old stone well as under the entire square is a large water
storage tank which supplied water to the town.
Two stone wells from the 14th and 15th centuries are bearing the municipal coat of arms.
This square is also used as the main open-air stage for one of the biggest summer events,
the Motovun Film Festival.
Parish church of St.Stephen is the most important of the four churches in town as it sits on
the most protected main square.
It succeeded two older churches and was built by Venetians in 16 hundreds although its final
shape is from the end of the 18th century.
Interior is richly decorated as expected for the late baroque period.
But unfortunately at the time of my visit the church is closed so you will have to explore
the interior when you get here.
Right next to the church is a bell tower that is much older than the church.
This landmark of Motovun is dominating the landscape for more than 700 years.
The bell tower is 27 meters or 88 feet high and has a distinctive crenellated crown as
it was built as the town’s main tower and observation post.
Over the centuries it was refurbished on various occasions to be finally converted into a bell
tower.
You
can see
all major attractions of Motovun in a couple of hours and have enough time for sipping
coffee or enjoying fresh truffles with a spectacular view.
But Motovun also offers many cultural events, the most famous one being the annual film
festival dedicated to independent film productions.
It attracts movies and people from around the world in the last week of July.
The symbol of the film festival is the ship's propeller as its inventor Josef Ressel lived
in Motovun for a while.
If you visit Motovun it is good to know that a car park is at the bottom of the hill from
where a shuttle bus will take you closer to the top, but you will still have to do a bit
of uphill walking.
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Thanks for watching, and see you next time.