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The west coast is Istria's tourist showcase, with numerous beaches, a trio of fascinating historic towns and Tito's former playground, the gorgeous Brijuni Islands National Park. Tourism infrastructure is well developed here, with plenty of accommodation options and some great restaurants. Just across the water is Italy, and the pervasive Italian influence makes it seem even closer. Italian is a second language in Istria, many Istrians have Italian passports and each town name has an Italian counterpart.
These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Istria's West Coast.
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Top billing in Poreč goes to the 6th-century Euphrasian Basilica, a World Heritage Site and one of Europe’s finest intact examples of Byzantine art. Built on the site of a 4th-century oratory, the complex includes a church, an atrium and a baptistery. The glittering 6th-century mosaics in the apse of the church are the highlights. The belfry, accessed through the octagonal baptistery, affords an intimate view of the old town.
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Pula’s most famous and imposing sight is this 1st-century oval amphitheatre, overlooking the harbour northeast of the old town. It's a huge and truly magnificent structure, slotted together entirely from local limestone and known locally as the Arena. Designed to host gladiatorial contests and seating up to 20,000 spectators, it still serves the mass-entertainment needs of the local populace in the shape of concerts and film-festival screenings.
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Fronted by a high porch supported by six Corinthian columns, this small but perfectly proportioned temple was built sometime between 2 BC and AD 14. It survived the Christian era by being converted into a church, only for it to be destroyed by a bomb in 1944. The subsequent stone-by-stone reconstruction has brought it back to something closely approaching its former glory, and it now houses a small archaeological display.
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This handsome neobaroque church was completed in 1800 but commenced 40 years earlier, when Venice was still the style-setter for Istria. With its 63m-high bell tower modelled on St Mark’s in Venice, it’s the largest parish church in Istria, and worth a visit for its magnificent altars alone. The mummies are in a curtained-off area behind the main altar.
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Built from 1725 to 1736, this imposing structure – the largest baroque church in Istria – dominates Rovinj from its hilltop location in the middle of the old town. Its 61m-high bell tower is older than the present church; construction commenced in 1654 and lasted 26 years. It's modelled on the campanile of St Mark’s in Venice, and is topped by a 4m copper statue of St Euphemia, who shows the direction of the wind by turning on a spindle.
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Not just any fish tank, this extraordinary aquarium occupies an entire 19th-century military fort – one of 55 built to defend the Austro-Hungarian Empire's main naval base. There are even sharks in an old artillery unit. The displays are well laid out and themed, with an emphasis on environmental issues. The aquarium does its bit, operating a sea-turtle rescue centre. Other attractions include rays, crabs, eels, starfish, anemones, seahorses, jellyfish, caimans, octopuses and a huge Indian python.
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Since ancient times the 34m hill at the centre of Pula's old town has been fortified. The current star-shaped fortress was built by the Venetians in the 1630s. It's now a moody backdrop to exhibitions on an eclectic range of historic themes (the antifascist struggle and a local boxing club at the time of research), but it's worth visiting for the views alone. Hidden around the back of the castle are the ruins of a small ancient Roman theatre.
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Also known as the Golden Gate (Zlatna vrata), this majestic arch was erected around 27 BC to commemorate three brothers from the Sergius family who fought in the naval battle of Actium (where the future emperor Augustus defeated Marc Antony and Cleopatra). It stood at the entrance to the Roman town, the walls of which can still be partly seen nearby on Trg Portarata and along Carrarina.
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Built in 1285, Pula's Franciscan monastery has an extraordinary 15th-century gilded altarpiece behind the altar of its cavernous church – but that's not its only, or even its oldest, treasure. Set into the floor of a Gothic chamber accessed via the Romanesque cloister is a Roman mosaic featuring a hippocampus (fish-tailed horse) and a swastika.
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