Inland Istria for senior groups: Motovun, Grožnjan, Hum and the Mirna valley (8 days)

Day 1: Departure and stopover in southern Germany

• Morning departure from the place of your choice.
• Regular breaks along the way: our drivers drive for 3 hours at most, then take a 30-minute break.
• Coffee break on the way and lunch at your own pace at a service area.
• Late-afternoon arrival at the stopover hotel in southern Germany, dinner and overnight.

Day 2: Arrival in Istria

• Breakfast, then onward journey with regular breaks.
• Through Austria and Slovenia, arriving in Istria in the late afternoon.
• Check-in at the hotel for 5 nights, dinner and overnight.

Day 3: Motovun and the Mirna valley

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Drive to Motovun, a small walled medieval town on a hilltop above the Mirna valley.
• Walk up to the old town and along the ramparts for the view over the valley; those who prefer can wait at the café below.
• Istrian truffle lunch at a restaurant in the valley (on request).
• Visit to a truffle house with a presentation of truffle hunting with dogs (on request).
• Dinner and overnight at the hotel.

Day 4: Grožnjan, Hum and the Glagolitic Alley

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Morning in Grožnjan, a hilltop village that has become an artists’ village, with galleries and studios in its stone lanes.
• Lunch of Istrian specialities at a country inn (on request).
• Drive along the Glagolitic Alley, lined with sculptures dedicated to the old Croatian script, to Hum, which presents itself as the smallest town in the world.
• Tasting of biska, Hum’s mistletoe brandy (on request).
• Dinner and overnight at the hotel.

Day 5: Free day

• Free day (the driver’s rest day): relaxing at the hotel, by the pool or a walk in the surroundings.
• Dinner and overnight at the hotel.

Day 6: Pazin, Beram and olive oil

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Drive to Pazin, in the heart of Istria: view of the Pazin chasm and its castle, which inspired Jules Verne’s “Mathias Sandorf”.
• Visit to the church of St Mary in Beram and its Dance of Death painted in the 15th century (on request).
• Tasting of olive oil and Istrian wines (Malvasia, Teran) at a family estate (on request).
• Return to the hotel in mid-afternoon and free time.
• Dinner and overnight at the hotel.

Day 7: Over the Alps to southern Germany

• Breakfast, then through Slovenia and Austria with regular breaks.
• Late-afternoon arrival at the stopover hotel in southern Germany, dinner and overnight.

Day 8: Return to Belgium

• Breakfast, then the last leg to Belgium with regular breaks.
• Arrival back in your region in the evening.