Holiday homes in Istria

Photo: Hieronymushistriae · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Ancient Histri village.

Photo: Juraj1884 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Fort San Giorgio is a fortress on the hill of the same name in Pula in Istria, near the municipal cemetery. Austria had it built in the 19th century to protect the main harbour of its navy.

Photo: Orlovic · CC BY-SA 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons

Fort Monvidal (Utvrda Monvidal) is a land fort on Monvidal hill in Pula, built in the 19th century by the Austrian Empire to protect the naval harbour. Horseshoe-shaped, partly dug into the hill and built entirely of stone, it later served as a store, a restaurant and a bar, among other things.

Photo: Jeroen Komen from Utrecht, Netherlands · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

The Arena Pula is a Roman amphitheatre in the city of Pula in Istria and is one of the best-preserved from antiquity. Its facade of white limestone remains largely in its original state, with two rows of arches and an upper storey with window niches.

Photo: Thomas Pusch · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

The monument to the fighters of the People's Liberation Struggle and the victims of fascism is a sculpture group by the sculptor Vanja Radauš in Titov park, directly on the waterfront promenade in Pula. On the sea side, in front of a stone wall, it shows two groups of naked, dying men; on the back of the white stone wall stands a female figure as a mother holding an apple in her hand.

Photo: Fritz Geller-Grimm · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

The Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary is located in Pula, on the south side of the bay, at the foot of the hill with the Venetian fortress. It is a Catholic cathedral and, alongside the Euphrasian Basilica, one of the two episcopal seats of the Diocese of Poreč and Pula.

Photo: Viktar Palstsiuk · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

The Limski kanal is a narrow sea inlet on the west coast of Istria, geologically a ria, which continues inland as the dry valley of Limska Draga. Wooded slopes rise along its shores, with the peaks of Mukaba (122 m) and Kapa (121 m).

Photo: dnik · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

The Učka is a mountain range in the east of the Istrian peninsula in Croatia, above the Kvarner Bay and close to Opatija and Rijeka. The highest peak is the Vojak at about 1,400 metres; other elevations include Suhi vrh, Plas and Mali Planik.

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The Mirna Valley (Dolina Mirne) is the valley of the 53-kilometre-long Mirna, which crosses Istria in Croatia from east to west. The river rises near Hum and flows into the Adriatic Sea at Novigrad.

Photo: Jarba · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Cape Kamenjak, locally Donji Kamenjak, forms the southern tip of the Istrian peninsula in Croatia. The protected area covers about 4 square kilometres and is managed as a public institution.

Photo: Ranko · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Brijuni is an archipelago in the northern Adriatic off the west coast of Istria, close to Fažana. Its 14 islands have been a national park since 1983, and the protected area including the surrounding waters covers about 34 km².

Photo: Bonč · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Butoniga is a reservoir in central Istria, near Grdoselo. It covers about 2.5 square kilometres among low hills, including Brdo (461 m), Padova (443 m), Finida (420 m), Sv.

Photo: Modzzak · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

The Pazinska jama is a cave and ponor near the town of Pazin in Istria, into which the Pazinčica stream disappears. It lies on the border between grey and red Istria and is considered a notable hydrogeological phenomenon in the Dinaric Karst; the area is protected as an important landscape.

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Ćićarija is a mountain range in northern Istria, part of the karst of the Dinaric Alps. The data give a height of 1,272 metres for the ridge; named peaks include Orljak (1,106 m), Medvižica (1,087 m) and Razsušica (1,083 m).

Photo: APneunzehn74 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Vela Draga is a valley, or canyon, about 3.5 kilometres long in Istria, on the western side of Učka Nature Park. The area has been under nature protection since 1963 and has additionally been protected as a geomorphological natural monument since 1998.

Photo: Ex13 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Raša Bay (Raški zaljev) is an arm of the sea on the east coast of Istria, southwest of Labin. It is about 12 kilometres long and on average around one kilometre wide.

Photo: Croq · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

The Palud Bird Reserve (Ornitološki rezervat Palud) is a nature reserve in Istria, about ten kilometres south of Rovinj and not far from the coast. It comprises a brackish marsh with reeds and dense vegetation; around the wetland grow forests of downy oak and holm oak, and in the north large willows stand in the water.

Photo: Sl-Ziga · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

The Dragonja valley (Dolina Dragonje) in Istria follows the river of the same name, about 30 kilometres long, down to the Adriatic. In places the river marks the border between Croatia and Slovenia.