After a delicious breakfast we were on our way by 09:00 and luckily the traffic in the Porec township was fairly light and the cars we did encounter were in most cases very considerate. Riding in traffic is particularly an issue when crossing through roundabouts where it’s necessary to keep to the outer lane to maximise safety.
Tarin at Porec
The road we followed out of Porec involved a gentle climb through vineyards and olive groves towards the little village of Dracevac. Continuing now northwards we stopped at a spot just before Višnjan where in a paddock next to the road were two of the famous white Boskarin cattle. These large beasts are a rare sub-species with only about 2000 remaining. They are immensely powerful and it’s claimed they are as strong as draught horses. A breeding plan is now underway to increase numbers. The two bulls we saw had very large horns each crowned with a copper cap.
Farm near Porec
Boskarin cattle, Visnjan
We then rode a short distance through rich red soil farming land (mostly grapes and olives) into the township of Visnjan where we stopped for coffee and a spot of sight-seeing. The Croatian towns we’ve visited so far during our bike ride have lots of similarities it seems. They’re normally positioned at and around a hill of prominence and usually the high point is dominated by a church with a bell tower. The streets are narrow and paved with shiny limestone rock and there’s typically a village square featuring coffee shops and restaurants. Visnjan certainly fitted this description to a tee.
Clock Tower, Visnjan
Church, Visnjan
Coffee break, Visnjan
Riding into Kastelir
After another four kilometres of mostly uphill riding we came to Kastelir where we stopped for a specially prepared luncheon. The meal served to us was home made pasta in a cream sauce with the serving generously covered with twenty or thirty slivers of truffle. Everyone agreed that the meal was delicious. The local farmer provides the truffles and in this region they are common and quite inexpensive. They had both black and the even rarer white truffles and these are ones that occur naturally unlike the ones that are seeded and grown commercially on truffle farms. The farmer uses pigs to find the truffles but they have to be very well fed otherwise they eat the truffles before they’re recovered.
At Kastelir we were at the highest point of our day’s cycling trip so from then onwards the going was mostly downhill.
Our homeward journey was interrupted by a one hour’s diversion to see the Baredine Caves. We descended 60m underground through five main sections to a sub-surface lake where there were rare white amphibians called olms (Proteus anguinus). These strange blind axolotl type creatures can live for more than 100 years and can exist for months without eating. Their diet is mainly insect larvae and worms. Our young guide did a very good job in describing aspects of the cave formations and its inhabitants to our group in both English and German.
Baredine Caves
Olm (Proteus anguinus), Baredine Caves
We arrived back in Porec at 16:40 having completed the 50km round trip. The bikes were quickly loaded onboard and we left Porec and headed 10km up the coast to the picturesque village of Novigrad where we’ll stay for the night.
Corinne & Tony arriving back at the Tarin, Porec
Porec
After dinner on board the ‘Tarin’ we ventured into the township of Novigrad for a brief excursion.
Umbrellas in street, Novigrad
Novigrad
Flower box, Novigrad
Tomorrow is going to be the hardest day of this bike riding adventure being the longest and steepest so an early night and plenty of rest was the order of the day.