Walking Croatia

A new tourism project was launched in Istra : The Parenzana - a route of Health and Friendship. 

Parenzana is an old railway track from the early 20th century that linked Trieste, Kopar and Porec, passing through much of the Istrian interior.

The railway has now been completely overgrown, but the route passing through wilderness, right next to many Istrian towns and old fortifications will take tourists on an adventurous trip to unusual places that offer experience of places and people, incomparable to the traditional form of tourist sightseeing of the usual destinations.

The Parenzana Code Kit is an exploratory and enigmatic guide book through which, step by step, parts of the fascinating mosaic of the past and present of Istra and the highlights of the Parenzana are revealed. It is a volume of maps with directions on how to orient along the Parenzana and information necessary to break the code. The maps are numbered and the basic assignment is to discover the proper order they are to be read in order to solve the Parenzana Code.

The code covers the area from Buje to Vižinada, and tourists can head out on foot or by bicycle to solve the enigmatic code, all with the help of the maps, and depending on the mode of transport one can solve the riddle in a day or more.

Along the 123 kilometre route they can get to know some of the most attractive places in Istra: Buje, Motovun, Grožnjan, Oprtalj, Završje and Kostanjice. The project will be further developed and the opening of a small Parenzana Museum in Livade is in the works, as are ethnological workshops and cycling races.

A DVD is being produced with 3D effects of the train passing, cycling maps as is other promotional material and the installation of information and road signs.

More info at the Parenzana Project web : www.parenzana.net  and at Istria Tourist Board:  www.istra.hr

admin :: Dec.03.2007 :: Walking Routes, Istria :: No Comments »

There are some 300 rural homesteads currently on offer in Istra with about 3,100 beds, which is about two percent of the total amount of accommodation capacity in this Croatian region. And while this is still a small number, we should point out that it is a segment now in great demand, and a massive effort is being made to preserve and improve the quality of this entire segment of the offer. 

Across all of Istra there are several types of rural facilities – classic agro-tourism, rural vacation homes, a Bed & Breakfast offer, rural family hotels, vacation areas with accommodation on wine roads and the like. These categories of facilities will now be standardised with the aim of emphasising their distinct nature and in order to ease tourist comparison and selection.

The standardisation of the facilities is being implemented through the system of additional scoring, given that each of them must have general and compulsory standards, points are added for some extra standards such as attractive location, traditionally arranged interiors and grounds and traditional occupations.

The Ruralis Consortium for rural tourism in Istra has been founded with this in mind, and its top management are setting strict rules in order to standardise and adequately profile these facilities.

Instead of the classic designations on the type and kind of facility is offered, the tourist offer of rural homesteads in Istra will from now on be displayed in a different way – as a symbol of individual types of facilities a sign has been selected that is traditionally linked to Istra, and that is the asparagus. And so one asparagus will denote an agrotourism facility, three asparagus will be a sign of a rural vacation home and five will denote a rural Bed & Breakfast offer.

Ruralis web site: www.ruralis.hr

admin :: Nov.03.2007 :: Istria :: No Comments »