Truffle Hunting with Miro Tartufi
Today was a day trip into the mountains to go truffle hunting. We went to Miro Tartufi, just outside the hilltop town of Motovun. The owner took us into the forest with two of his dogs: Lila was a 5 year old black lab, and Jeki was a 6 month old Italian Water Dog (Lagotto Romagnolo). He has another dog (12 year old Bela), but said when training a puppy, it’s best with only one adult dog. The dogs found two small white truffles, and one medium sized black truffle.
Here’s a short video of the dogs finding a truffle:
Lunch at Miro Tartufi
After the hunt, which took about an hour, we headed back to Miro Tartufi for a wonderful lunch prepared by the owner’s wife and daughter. First were bread rounds topped with a spread made from black truffle, olives, and garlic; more rounds topped with truffle butter; salami with bits of black truffle; two kinds of cheese; bread with cream cheese and black truffle; and a wonderful salad topped with shaved black truffle. All was served with a local white wine. After the first course, we had scrambled eggs made with truffles, followed by chocolate cake topped with grated white truffle.
Motovun
After lunch we visited Motovun, which is a charming fortified hill town with spectacular views. There were winged lion crests with closed books, signifying the town was conquered by the Venetians. Motovun is also the birthplace of Mario Andretti.
Grožnjan Artists Village
After Motovun we stopped at Grožnjan, a tiny artists village. The village was at one time nearly deserted, so they started attracting artists with cheap rents. The village features narrow cobblestone streets, medieval architecture, and numerous art galleries, studios, and workshops hosted in historic buildings. It regularly hosts music festivals, art exhibitions, and cultural events, particularly during the summer, drawing artists and visitors from across Europe.
Back in Rovinj
We got back to Rovinj at about 3:30pm, just in time for a short nap. After the nap, we took a stroll along the promenade on our way to dinner at Puntalina, which was spectacular. The restaurant is nestled along the cliff, not far from the Mediterraneo Bar. They had both indoor and outdoor seating, but the seats along the cliffs weren’t big enough for our group of 6, so we got a nice table inside with a great view. The food was the best so far on the trip. I had sliced ribeye with chimichurri on top of a bed of grilled veggies. It was loaded with flavor. (Tip: if you want medium rare meat in Croatia, order medium. To them, medium rare is basically rare.) Teresa had pasta with mushroom sauce. Everyone else had some form of fish.
After dinner we stopped to watch the sunset (along with everyone else), then got gelato at A-Roma. (A-Roma is a chain, but a good one. The other gelato shops in Rovinj were touristy and mass produced. A-Roma hand crafts their gelato daily. We would find better local shops in other cities, but for Rovinj, A-Roma hit the spot.) Finally, back to the apartment for some card games before bed.
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