Istria Outside My Window

Closing my window

2021-07-09T10:08:00.001+02:00

One of my goals for 2021 was to revive this blog. Several people have asked me to continue with it, or told me they missed reading my posts. You know who you are, and I want to thank you for your encouragement and for being such faithful readers. Some of you have been with me since I started my India blog way back in 2007!But in the end, I decided that it's time to close my window. For those who

A vegan and vegetarian guide to Istria

2018-07-19T14:33:00.001+02:00

I've been planning to write this practical guide for some time now. The tourist season is now on so this could be useful for vegetarians and vegans travelling to Istria. I've been vegan for the past 10 years and was a vegetarian for over 20 years before that. I've lived and travelled in many different countries so my experience living here for the past five years has been that it's not easy

A peek inside Gračišće's Salamon Palace

2018-05-08T20:35:00.001+02:00

I have already written about the Salamon Palace, a building that intrigues many visitors to Gračišće. It was built in 1570 (almost 450 years ago!) in Venetian Gothic style. Sadly, this beautiful palazzo has been abandoned for decades and is slowly rotting away. During the recent wine fair (held every Easter Monday), one of the ground-floor rooms of the palace was used as a wine cellar. The

100 years ago today: Kaiser Karl I's visit to Gračišće

2018-04-06T12:15:00.001+02:00

A few months ago I was looking for old photos of Gračišće online when I stumbled on the photo archives of the Austrian National Library and found a treasure trove! I found 10 photos taken here exactly 100 years ago when Kaiser Karl I, the last Austrian emperor, was on an official visit of Istria. He had a whole entourage with him including his own photographer, Heinrich Schuhmann, who

Gračišće landmarks: St. Anthony's Chapel

2018-03-31T14:30:00.000+02:00

Continuing with my series on the village's landmarks, today I'm taking you on a virtual visit of St. Anthony's Chapel. This must be one of Gračišće's oldest religious buildings because it was built in 1381, much before the Church of St. Mary on the Square and just two years before St Euphemia's church. What makes this building stand out is its Gothic windows and

Istria's gastronomic festivals

2018-03-20T13:06:00.000+01:00

Happy 1st day of spring! It doesn't feel like spring yet, but it's definitely on its way. Some trees already have new buds, fruit trees are flowering, and soon we'll have the season's first wild asparagus growing in the woods. With spring (and asparagus!) come thoughts of food and Istria's many food festivals. I've compiled a list of some of the most notable that happen throughout the

Photo exhibition: Spirit of India

2018-02-23T11:09:00.001+01:00

Readers of this blog will know that I usually go to India at this time of year... but this winter I'm bringing a little bit of the colours and spirit of India to Istria instead! I'm having an exhibition of some of my photographs of India at LG Galerija in Pazin. Do join me at the opening on Friday 23 February at 7pm. Or stop by and say hello during the exhibition!

Snow in the village!

2017-12-15T08:21:00.000+01:00

On December 9th I woke up to a surprise: snow! This was the first time I was seeing the village under a blanket of the white stuff. So I grabbed my camera and headed out to capture a few shots. I'm glad I did because it soon melted. This is what it looked like:

Old postcards of Svetvinčenat

2017-11-08T22:16:00.001+01:00

Svetvinčenat, also known as Savičenta in local dialect (or in Italian: Sanvincenti), is one of the many highlights of interior Istria. If you visit this charming town's square you'll see that it hasn't changed much from how it looked in this postcard from 1901. Dominating the square is the Renaissance-style church and Morosini-Grimani castle, both built in the 13th century (the castle's

Animal friends

2017-10-22T22:53:00.000+02:00

Squeaky incognito on the bookshelf It's been a while since I posted about Squeaky, the South Indian cat and our other animal friends in the village. Squeaky is doing great, but unfortunately we and other friends and neighbours lost quite a few animal friends this year... This spring our friend M was heartbroken when she lost her cat Luna, a few months after her kitten MiMoon

Gračišće landmarks: Kašća

2017-09-28T23:16:00.000+02:00

Another important historical landmark here in the village located right next to the Salamon Palace and opposite St. Mary's Church is a building called kašća. This was the granary and many towns and villages dating back to medieval times had one. A post shared by Isabel (@isabelswindow) on Apr 14, 2016 at 11:02am PDT Next to St. Mary's Church is a large piece

You know you grew up in an Istrian family when...

2017-09-15T12:09:00.000+02:00

Have you come across those jokes and memes about growing up in a certain culture abroad that are light-hearted pokes at what it's like to grow up in, for example, an Italian or Indian immigrant family? I've even come across You Know You're Croatian When... Well, I've come up with my own version of: You know you grew up in an Istrian family (abroad) when... 1. You had to address your

Old postcards of Pula

2017-08-23T19:44:00.000+02:00

Among my collection of old postcards are a few of Pula, Istria's biggest and southernmost city. Two feature its most famous landmark, the 1st century arena, known as one of the world's best preserved Roman amphitheatres. But I find the ones of Pula's market much more interesting. In the image below we see the iron and glass market building built in 1903 during the Austro-Hungarian empire.

A woman and her olive grove

2017-08-10T12:07:00.000+02:00

Maybe you've noticed that I'm a little obsessed with olive trees and olive oil. This obsession started here in Istria after I tried fresh new olive oil for the first time. I can't go back to supermarket olive oil ever again – it's just nothing like the real thing. I look forward to the olive season every November when we help our neighbours pick their olives and head to a local producer to

Vintage hotel posters

2017-07-23T22:42:00.000+02:00

Today we're going way, way back with these vintage hotel posters! Aren't they groovy? Enjoy!

Istria's new olive oil museum

2017-07-08T19:16:00.000+02:00

One thing I love about Istria is its olive trees and exceptional olive oil. Istria is the northern-most olive-growing region in the Mediterranean and olive oil has been produced here since Roman times. In the past two decades, the local olive oil industry has experienced a resurgence of sorts and Istrian olive oil has been put on the map thanks to its many excellent local

Gračišće landmarks: The Church of St. Mary on the Square

2017-06-22T22:09:00.000+02:00

I've decided to do a mini-series on a few of Gračišće's most notable landmarks. I've already written about the crumbling elegance of the Salamon Palace, the 16th century Gothic building that probably attracts the most attention from visitors to the village. I also wrote about my climb up to the top of the bell tower, from where I enjoyed the amazingly scenic views. And I've written

A day on the Brijuni Islands

2017-06-11T20:48:00.000+02:00

The Brijuni Islands were on my list for a long time. Finally on a hot day in May I caught the ferry from the small and colourful port town Fažana for the short trip to Veliki Brijuni. This is the largest of the Brijuni islands, a collection of 14 islands and islets. These islands were inaccessible during President Tito's rule during the time of Yugoslavia when they served as his summer

Where everyone knows your name

2017-05-24T13:12:00.000+02:00

I've always lived in big anonymous cities. Life here in the village is different. Here, everyone knows your name. My father is from here so I'm known as A's daughter. (My father's name is actually M but everyone calls him A – because everyone seems to have two names here: an 'official' and 'unofficial' name – this probably needs to be the subject of a future post!) My husband is known

Cycling the Parenzana (Part 4): from Vižinada to Poreč

2017-05-15T21:05:00.000+02:00

One reason I enjoyed spacing out my journey on the 123-km-long Parenzana trail over several months is that I was able to experience the different colours of each season as I cycled or walked through the different landscapes I came across. I started out in Muggia in Italy in early October, cycling through this initial stage of the trail that crosses the border into Slovenia and follows the

Old postcards of Rovinj

2017-04-27T18:42:00.000+02:00

Don't you love old postcards? I do! A neighbour showed me his fascinating collection of 300 old postcards dating back to the early 1900s of Istrian towns and villages printed by an Italian publisher. I scanned the ones I found the most interesting and will be sharing some here. I had already shared a post on old postcards of Gračišće, the village I live in. Today I'm taking you back in time

Why spring is the best time to visit Istria

2017-04-15T22:28:00.000+02:00

Yes, I'm back after my trip to India, and happy to be home. I had lovely spring weather to welcome me back and provide a soft landing after leaving the intense heat of India. Autumn used to be my favourite season but since moving to Istria almost four years ago, spring is my favourite time of year. Why? Because in South India where I spent close to seven years, the weather was summer-like

Where am I?

2017-02-26T15:55:00.001+01:00

This blog has been quiet... that's because I've had a change of window and am travelling in India again this winter. I hope to get to publishing the posts I have in the pipeline soon... but in the meantime you can have a peek at my Instagram page to see what I'm up to!

Čabeceda

2016-12-30T14:40:00.000+01:00

Image courtesy of Čabeceda While I was working on the last letters of my Istria abecedary, I came across Čabeceda on Facebook. This is a collection of super cute illustrations depicting images that describe a word in the Istrian dialect for every letter of the Croatian alphabet. Not only are the illustrations delightful, but the name of the collection is very clever. Ča is

Walking the Parenzana (Part 3): from Livade to Vižinada

2016-12-20T22:37:00.000+01:00

It was a crisp but sunny winter's day with clear blue skies when I set out to walk from Livade to Vižinada. I had cycled the first part of the Parenzana trail from Muggia in Italy through Slovenia to Buje in Croatia, and then walked from Buje to Livade. This would be the third leg of my trip following the entire 123-km-long trail, a former railway line. From Livade the trail follows the