VRSAR | ORSERA

The tree that casts a deep shadow is Košćela, the Istrian Ladonja, the name for the agora, a place where people gathered to talk, where they deliberated, judged, where marriages or deals were made, where sometimes there was not enough room for everyone who wanted its shade. One could also hide under the Ladonja.

Whoever sat under the Ladonja in Vrsar, it was difficult to drag him to another place. Next to it is the church of St. Anthony of Padua, after which this oldest viewpoint in Vrsar was named, behind it are the Small Town Gates, next to which Casanova sits on a bench and looks at the Vrsar waterfront, where he first disembarked when coming to Vrsar.

As a sign of gratitude, Vrsar named one of its viewpoints after Casanova, who mentioned the town in his work "Historie de ma vie". At the viewpoint there is a bench made of Istrian stone on which two stylized figures are "sitting". The view goes towards the Vrsar marina and the island of St. Jurja, the largest in the Vrsar archipelago. To tell the truth, Casanova also stayed in Bale, where a street bears his name, and where he supposedly got involved with the then owner of the Soardo-Bembo palace.

It tells about the long love of Bepo and Tonina, in whose marble lap you can sit and experience Vrsar paradise, convinced that ordinary mortals can taste it too.

The Sea and Guitar Festival is held at this viewpoint and Vrsar serenades are sung.

It is located behind the parish church and overlooks Valkanela and the abandoned Montraker quarry. Passing by the stone sculpture of Cupid, you can take the stairs down to the Montraker viewpoint on the hill of the quarry.

Vrsar has a total of 8 viewpoints.

Two are located in the forest of Kontija and overlook the Lim Bay, and the highest one is on the Belfry next to the Church of St. Martin, from which you can see all 18 islands and islets of the Vrsar archipelago.

Church of St. Foška was built in the first half of the 17th century. The church has a Renaissance facade to which Baroque elements were added later. On the front, above the portal, there is a round window, and at the top there is a trestle for two bells. There used to be two bells in the castle, one from 1680 and the other from the 18th century. The younger bell was removed during the First World War, used for war purposes, and replaced by a new bell in 1922. During World War II, both bells were removed, but not destroyed. Today, they are in their original condition, in the bell tower of the parish church of St. Martin. In the interior of the church, there is a floor paved with stone slates, on which you can also see tombs with Latin text.

A few meters from the church of St. Foška is home to the East or Main City Gate from the 13th century.
The door is decorated with a simple semicircular Romanesque arch.
On the inside, there are stone and iron rings to which wooden wings were attached.

The first castle was probably built in the 9th century. It is not yet known for sure whether it was built of wood or stone. In the 12th century it was mentioned as castrum Ursariae. In the 13th century, during the reign of Bishop Otto, the castle was reconstructed with stone. In the 17th century, it was rebuilt by Bishop Adelasio, but the structure from the 13th century was preserved. The castle had a central three-story palace with a courtyard and a well, and a crown on top, surrounded by walls with four towers at the corners. In the 19th century, the castle came under the ownership of the Vergottini patrician family and acquired its present appearance. The castle was last renovated in 2001.

Parish Church of St. Martina is three-nave, built of stone from a nearby quarry. The foundations were laid in 1804. It was built during the French rule in Istria from 1805 to 1813. Then the construction was suspended until 1927, when it continued until the completion of the church in 1935. The main altar is wooden, and was brought in 2008 from the parish church of St. Euphemia from Rovinj. There is a new wooden statue of Saint Martin on the altar.

Bell tower and church bells on display
Alongside the church is a freestanding bell tower, forty meters high, built in 1991. The bell tower displays six church bells that are no longer in use, including two bells from the church of St. Foška.

At the very exit from the marina (the marina was opened in Vrsar in 2001), on the left, there is the three-nave Romanesque church of St. Mary of the Sea, which with its monumentality (24.5 x 12.5 m) is reminiscent of early Christian churches.

Church of St. Mary of the Sea was built on the remains of an earlier Roman building (probably a rustic villa or a country manor with outbuildings) in the 8th century, and its present appearance of three inscribed apses, Romanesque arcades and monolithic columns was acquired in the 12th century. The inner walls were decorated with frescoes, but today they are barely visible. The frescoes were painted on two occasions, the first time in the 9th or 10th century, and the second time in the 16th century. The church was restored several times, the last time in 1969. There used to be a cemetery around it, the remains of which are visible today only along the northern wall of the church yard. Next to the church are the remains of an old monastery of Carmelites (named after Mount Carmel in Palestine) that were there until the 14th century. In the 17th century, Franciscans moved in, who soon left it due to a dispute with the bishop of Poreč over the ownership of the monastery properties. Today, only the facade of the monastery has been preserved. Near the church are the remains of the previously mentioned old Christian church, which are covered with earth, so they are not visible.

Renaissance Church of St. Anthony of Padua is a one-nave building with a portico and a chancel, and was built in 1656. It was thoroughly renovated in 2010. There is a baroque wooden altar in the church.

Next to the church of St. Anthony of Padua, there is a small city gate from the end of the 12th or the beginning of the 13th century.
The doors still have old wooden door frames, which are among the oldest in Istria.

• The first tourist season began in Vrsar on June 1, 1957.

• The first commercial naturist facility in Europe after World War II was built on the island of Koversada in 1961.

• The Italians transported stone from Vrsar to build Venetian palaces, churches and bridges, and the oak that grew in the Mirna River valley was used to build Venice itself.

• In the wall of the small city gate, above the entrance to the old town, there is a ball fired from one of Napoleon's cannons.

• Vrsar is the only place in the world to have a monument to Casanova.

• The fjord, a protected landscape, is a 12-kilometer-long bay. Lim Bay is located between the towns of Rovinj and Vrsar, and is famous for its oyster farming. Two Viking films were filmed in Lim Bay – in 1958 and 1964, starring Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis.

• Stone sculptures on the waterfront in Vrsar serve as cleats for tying up boats.

If you are looking for a traditional recipe in Vrsar, it is amaretti. They are not made from almonds but from hazelnuts, eggs and sugar. Until recently, there were numerous hazelnut plantations in the Vrsar area, unlike the more famous Italian amarettos, whose main ingredient is almonds. This is the Istrian oblong variety, which, according to older people, was used because it was easier to clean than the round one. No one is impressed by the simple recipe, but once they are ready, it is hard to stop eating them. In Vrsar, there is one challenge that no one passes, and that is to eat just one Vrsar amaretti.
Among the traditional sweet delicacies in Istria, cukerančići and hroštule are also famous.

Amareti Days, a boutique event dedicated to this traditional cookie, the guardian of the local story and taste, are held in Vrsar in September every year. The event combines gastronomy, tradition and creativity, preserving the story of Vrsar amaretti and passing it on to new generations - from demonstrations of traditional production to contemporary interpretations.

If you are able, you should first see the Istrian towns from the sea.

In Poreč, you can also listen to "La mula de Parenzo" while visiting the Euphrasian Basilica, the Old Town, Marafor Square, and while in the Romanesque House you are looking for the remains of the city founded by the Romans in the 1st century BC. The decorative fountain on Marafor Square was created in 1909. It shows a boy playing with two fish from whose mouth water gushes, and then the water was used for decorative purposes for the first time in the public space of Poreč.
The splendor of ancient Poreč was ensured by the vice admiral of the Ravenna fleet from II. century, Titus Abudius Verus, who lived in the city where he restored many temples and built a port with a pier. The Euphrasian Basilica is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
It is interesting that the Kastel in Vrsar was the summer residence of the Poreč bishops. The Vrsar county was the largest, most important and richest possession of the Poreč bishop. A few years later, in 1961, Edo Murtić, a painter from Vrsar, founded Poreč annals, a collective exhibition of fine artists.

From the window of Casa Bonazza, you can see the bell tower, which is more than 60 m high.

On July 13, 800, the sea brought a sarcophagus from what was then Constantinople. It was not pulled to shore by strong men, but by a thin, weak boy with his two cows. The sarcophagus contained the body of St. Euphemia. The inhabitants of the city declared her their patron saint, named the hill after her and built a church.
On its top is a weather vane in the shape of St. Euphemia, which turns and dances with the winds, at the same time protecting the inhabitants of Rovinj.

Fairies danced in Istria and wandered at night so that other inhabitants would not see them. If someone were to see them, they did not foreshadow bad events, but only gave him good luck. They were also skilled builders and built the Arena in Pula under cover of night. They brought the stone from Učka, and while dancing in a circle, they arranged it in a circle. At the sound of the first cock, the fairies disappeared, and the building remained unfinished, and the stone remained scattered on the road they were walking on... Another legend says that the Arena was built in honor of the most beautiful woman of that time, Antonia Cenida, who was the lover of Emperor Vespasian. Arena defies time and lasts. There is also the Temple of Augustus and the forum, the Golden or Hercules Gate, which is the oldest monument in Pula, 1st century BC. You should also see the underground tunnels, Zerostrasse. Pula also has world boxing champion Mata Parlov. In the former state, the rule was that there were only two people who should not be held against, Tito and Mate Parlov.
It is the largest city in Istria and hosts a film festival founded in 1954 as the Domestic Film Review. James Joyce, the famous writer, taught English in Pula.

At Brijuni you will find everything about the Non-aligned movement, which originated in Istria. The train will take you around the safari park, you will hang out with Koki, Tito's pet parrot, and see traces of life from the Stone Age. Once upon a time, the European aristocracy enjoyed playing golf on the course, which in 1922 was the largest in Europe. Richard Strauss, Gustav Klimt, Thomas Mann, Richard Burton, Sophia Loren rested on Brioni, so you can too... Brioni is also home to the oldest olive tree in the Mediterranean, which is more than 1,600 years old. You will see the Archaeological Museum, the church of St. German, Tito's Cadillac from 1953.

The city that flows and the largest Croatian port had a direct line to New York back in 1903. Dynamic and energetic, encouraging its residents to be active, Rijeka never stops, always progresses and develops. It is surrounded by flowing wealth, with the Riječina River flowing through it, as well as about twenty other covered streams. The inexhaustible source of drinking water by the sea has always attracted people "to the river", which is why the city got its name. Rijeka's streams were occupied by sugar, rope, paper, cigarette factories and the most famous among them - the torpedo factory, the first of its kind in the world. Rijeka has a City Puppet Theater, a children's festival Tobogan with performances and workshops, and was among the first to earn the title of "child-friendly city". Rijeka hosts the international festival of world music and gastronomy Porto Etno. The Astronomical Center is the first and only in Croatia to combine an observatory and a digital planetarium. A special gem of Rijeka is the ship Galeb, better known as Tito's floating residence, on which the Non-Aligned Movement was founded. In addition to the four seasons, Rijeka also has a fifth, Carnival. The Carnival procession is one of the largest in Europe, and the Halubaj Bell Ringers are included in UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. At the beginning of the 20th century, one of the first pet cemeteries in Europe was opened in Rijeka. In the building of the Rijeka Theatre from 1765, in addition to performances, you can also enjoy the ceiling painted by Gustav and Ernst Klimt. Husar, one of the first disco clubs in this part of Europe, opened in Rijeka in 1957.
The patron saint of the city is St. Vid.