CROATIA & THE BALKANS ISTRIA DESTINATIONS


Hthe matter eart of


Katie McGonagle finds coast, countryside and character in Croatia’s Istrian peninsula


@katie_mcgonagle W


e’re standing silent but tensed for action, when


the sound of two short barks reaches us over the rustling of the leaves. Our guide dashes towards the source, ducking under the branches of oak and hazelnut trees as he hot-foots it to Candy, his trusty truffle- hunter.


Hurrying to catch up, we find


white curly-haired Candy – a Lagotto Romagnolo dog, bred for this very purpose – standing expectantly by the base of an oak tree, as her master digs gently among the roots to uncover the knobbly mass of black truffle she’s just sniffed out.


We’re at Karlic Tartufi, a family-


owned truffle farm in the hills of Istria, one of just a handful of places in the world where this ‘black gold’ grows – an apt description, since black truffles can fetch up to €400 a kilo, and their white counterparts 10 times as much. Here, there’s no food that can’t be bettered by the addition of truffle – the farm shop puts it in olive oil, ham, cheese and, perhaps most surprisingly, chocolate spread (better than it sounds), proud as they are of their prized export. Then again, they’ve got reason


to be pleased with themselves. This underrated region boasts


The underrated region boasts the epicurean delights of Italy, pretty seaside towns, rolling hills and Roman ruins


w PULA Sitting at the tip of this heart- shaped peninsula is Pula, accessible via surprisingly short flights from London, Bristol, Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh and East Midlands. We took off from Gatwick at 7am and were goggling over Pula’s grand Roman amphitheatre by 9.30am. Built in the first century, the


all the epicurean delights of neighbouring Italy (though at more palatable Croatian prices), pretty little seaside towns, rolling hills and Roman ruins – and that’s just for starters.


arena is Croatia’s best-preserved Roman structure, so completely untouched that you can almost feel the crowds jeering and the lions clawing at each other in the sand below. Sure, it’s more likely to play host to music festivals and sporting events than


4 January 2018 travelweekly.co.uk 55


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