Mobility for students in Croatia

From September 20 to September 24 Croatian school hosted 16 students and 7 teachers in Istria. Romanian students and teachers were present virtually.

5 days of different activities have been interesting, fun but also exhausting.

On Monday we met in front of the school in Karojba. At 9 am we took the bus to Pazin. Mr. Finderle from the city council and the school principal welcomed us. Then we had a sightseeing tour of Pazin with a guide. At half past 12 we had lunch and after lunch we had some free time. Inside the Pazin castle we had a museum tour and some workshops. In front of the castle we tasted traditional biscuits – cukerančići. We took the bus to Bani village. We walked from Bani to Zarečki krov waterfall and joined a video chat with students and teachers from Romania. We explored the countryside of Bani and had a reciting show on the waterfall. We learnt something about herbs and made a small herbarium poster. We even prepared our own mint tea. The delicious dinner at restaurant Bani started at 8 pm. After dinner we headed back home. It was a very busy day.

On Tuesday we visited Pula and the National park Brijuni. In Pula we felt a bit of bura wind. The amphitheater was a nice view. We had lunch in Fažana, a small fishermen’s town from where we took a boat ride to the national park. The guide in Brijuni told us a lot about the history of Croatia and Istrian region. The nature is wonderful there. There is a museum about the life of Tito – a former Yugoslavian president who spent many summers on the Brijuni islands. A very interesting sight was Tito’s cadillac and the safari park with Lenka the elephant and zebras. Students had to say some things they remember from the tour in a short video on Flipgrid.

Wednesday tour started at 8:00. We arrived in Višnjan Observatory at quarter past 8. The presentation started at 9:00. All students and teachers listened to and watched the presentation about stars and the Earth. We travelled to Baredine cave and we arrived at half past 10. We went inside Baredine cave with a guide. We saw many stalactites and stalagmites and beautiful stone formations. Baredine cave has about 270 stairs. At the end of Baredine cave we saw a kind of olm, an endemic amphibian. After visiting the cave we walked to an exhibition of rural items and tractors – Tractor Story. We saw and sat on some old tractors. We had so much fun. We went to lunch in a restaurant. The food was tasty. We ate steak, chips and salad and we had donuts for dessert. After lunch we had some free time. We went to see donkeys, geese and chickens and bought some things in the shop. We went home at 3 pm.

Thursday was spent in Poreč and Rovinj. We arrived to Poreč at half past 8. There we visited the Euphrasiana, a well preserved basilica of the Byzantine era. Euphrasiana is protected UNESCO heritage. In Poreč there is a sports center Žatika. It was built in 2009 for the World Handball Cup. The most famous Croatian football player is Luka Modrić. He was awarded as the best player in the world for 2018. Teacher Snježana from the Croatian school is a bocce champion. She taught students how to play bocce on the local bocce track. In Rovinj we had lunch and a walking tour with a guide. In the evening in the school gym there was a farewell party. Students, teachers and parents enjoyed spending time, chatting, listening to music, dancing… The parents prepared some delicious food. Certificates were given to all the participants.

On Friday the group visited Motovun, a medieval place on top of a nearby hill. The story says there used to be a giant Joseph in Motovun, who helped the people work in the fields and cut trees in the woods. However, the students didn’t work in the fields, they worked in the kitchen. Their task was to prepare traditional pasta named makaruni or pljukanci. Pasta they made was cooked and tasted.

It was the final day of the activities. Many friendships and good memories are never to be forgotten. Nice work everyone.