Hello,

We are looking for a few Istria Gems. We are staying in Rovinj for 3 nights. We have read plenty about Rovinj, Pula, Opatija, Porec, Motovun, Groznjan, and even Hum. What other Istia places should we visit? Please let us know about special restaurants for lunch. Thanks.

Our favourite gems are Hum, Bale, Groznjan, Grascise, and Rovinj. Motovun is lovely, too, but overrun with tourists (at least when we were there in September). The others I mentioned were very quiet. We found 2-3 hours to be enough in Pula (amphitheatre).

What time of the year are you going? We went to a spectacular truffles restaurant when they were in season. The restaurant in Hum had some good dishes (not fancy, but hearty comfort food).

Gems in Istria...sometimes it seems hard to avoid them!
My favorites list would also include the ones mentioned already, but there are more. Groznjan is lovely, but a touristic kind of lovely that still takes me there often on bike rides. I have a weekend house not far from there. Other gems that are much less traveled: the old part of Buje, which surprised me after using Buje only for shopping and post for years; Zavrisje; Roc; Draguc; Sovinjak; the old center of Buzet on top of the hill; Beram's frescoes; and for food I can write with emphasis...Momjan [Rino's] and Zrenj [Pietropelosa]. These two specialise in what I would call inland Istrian cuisine, something akin to Toscana - truffles, homemade pastas and gnocci, meats, prsut, cheese, polenta, fritata, their own wines, etc. For seafood, there are so many that I have not tried, but my usual spots are Astarea in Brtoniglija, and Konoba in Umag.
Enjoy your trip!