Finding a perfect location to build a house was not easy. It all happened 5 years ago while we were spending our last vacation days in Istria. It was perfect timing to explore Istria by car, as it seemed that boring rain will not stop for the next couple of days, and our baby son was enjoying car drives. Actually we were the ones enjoying, as this was the only time we were sure that he will sleep for a couple of hours.
We decided to explore the east part of Istria first. We heard that Rakalj, Rabac, and Labin are worth visiting, so we headed in that direction. Places turned out to be lovely, although we didn´t like lack of nice beaches in Rakalj area, pretty crowded Rabac, and no sea in case of Labin (first sea you can find is in Rabac, which is still crowded though). Positive or negative thing, based on one’s preferences, is that this area is still not as touristic as maybe the eastern part of the peninsula.
We were positively surprised with the central part – Motovun, Liznjan, Svetivincenat, Groznjan…one diamond after the other. Istrian Toscany as people like to call this area, good wines, truffles, olive oil, you name it, this area has everything.
The western part and the most famous tourist destinations like Rovinj, Novigrad, and Porec need no special words to describe their beauty. Millions of tourists every year speak for themselves. Unfortunately, prices of the land there could go sky-high.
In the end we found our happiness in a small place Galizana close to Pula, southern Istria. It was love at first sight. You know that feeling when you see something, and you immediately know this is it? It was more than enough to look at my wife´s eyes to know that we have found a hidden gem that we both like.
It was perfect. Five kilometers from the sea with a sea view, small church and beautiful center of old town hundreds meter away, amazing city of Pula just a few kilometers down the road, next to small city Fazana and Brijuni national park, quiet and green surroundings, and most importantly, we could afford it.