May 7 -13, 2023

During the stay of our partners in Istria, we prepared a rich program. We presented them with the beauty and sights of our peninsula, traditional dishes, and agricultural products, and we also visited several agricultural producers. On Monday, at the Kozlović Winery in Momjan, they got to know the technology of wine production and enjoyed tasting the autochthonous wines of Istrian Malvasia and Momjan Muscat. After that, they went on a demonstrative truffle hunt in Livade and enjoyed sightseeing in Motovun. On Tuesday, typical Istrian food was cooked at agrotourism Pekica: maneštra, šugo, pljukanci and homemade bread. All students and teachers participated in the preparation of the meal and at the end enjoyed the tastes and smells of the prepared food. They also visited the lavender fields on the same farm. On that day, a visit to the Mate Balote High School was also organized, where our students presented the beauties of Croatia, Istria, and the organization of the school’s work through presentations. In the afternoon, our guests got to know the sights of Poreč with expert guidance. Wednesday was the day reserved for a boat ride to Rovinj, where they visited the Ruđer Bošković Institute and the Batana Museum. At the Institute, they listened to lectures on the history of the Institute and their work on Sea Monitoring with special emphasis on the control of sea pollution and problems with nano and microplastics in the sea. They spent the fourth day of their stay getting to know the cultivation of olives, the production and tasting of olive oil.

First, they visited the Chiavalon family farm in Vodnjan, where they received a lot of useful information about the olive tree, a culture that was of particular interest to everyone. In the oil mill, they learned how to produce olive oil and tasted several types of different olive oils. Later in the day, they visited the Museum of Olive Oil in Pula and learned everything about the history of olives, the tradition of growing olives in Istria and the production of olive oil in a traditional and modern way. Of course, they enjoyed the sights of Pula. They spent the last day of their stay, on Friday, at the sea. In the bay of Santa Marina near Vabriga, they learned all about the cultivation of mussels and oysters in Nivio Gianluca Stojnić’s Sea fishing boat, and then enjoyed seafood. We hope that students and teachers from partner schools will remember their stay in Istria fondly, that we brought them closer to the beauty and diversity of Istria and introduced them to traditional and local products.