An archipelago of islands in Istria
Pula marina
The Brijuni Islands are an archipelago of 15 islands (and islets) off the coast of Istria. The largest one called Veliki Brijuni (translated to Large Brijuni, a very original name for the largest island!)it can be reached by boats and ferries. Veliki Brijuni was declared a national park and has a tourist infrastructure with hotels and guest villas. (The islands are also known by their Italian name of Brioni, as between the world wars they were part of Italy.)
Brijuni fascinated me because I knew of the islands from childhood as they were the personal playground for the Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito and were closed off to the outside world. Unless you were invited onto the islands, as in you were a celebrity of world leader, regular people had no access to the islands. The island inhabitants were 'encouraged' to all leave in the 1960s! After Tito died Veliki Brijuni was declared a national park and then with the creation of the country of Croatia, the islands were opened up to tourism again.
There are two main ways to get across to the main island, there's the regular ferry that departs several times a day from the town of Fažana, just across what is called the Fažana strait, as it's the closest point from the mainland to the island, it's only 3km. Or you can take a tourist boat from Pula, which is further away and takes 45 minutes. I originally planned to take the bus from Pula to Fažana and then take the ferry across, but the bus times didn't suit! There was a bus at 9am and then a large gap until 11.40am, so factoring the 8km travel time to Fažana then waiting for the ferry, I thought taking a tourist boat was the better option. It was more expensive, the ferry is 220 kuna and the tourist boat cost me 310 kuna (to be fair it was a longer boat trip) The boat I took was called the Martinabella and it left the Pula marina at 10.45am and returned at 4.30pm. (It does an evening trip across as well) The timing was perfect for me and I could just stroll down to the marina and not mess around with bus schedules.
The boat trip across was lovely so worth taking a longer trip, the boat then docks in the main harbour on the island behind the historic boathouse.
Veliki Brijuni harbour, in the distance, the Martinabella, the boathouse and hotel Istra.
The Martinabella
Once on the island you can do your own thing or join the organised tour, I'd never been on Brijuni before so opted for the tour. The Martinabella docks just before the Fažana ferry so the people are grouped together into language groups for the tour. I opted for the English group!!!
We all hopped into a little train to take us around the island.
The engine seemed to be a historic one.
There is also another little train, a slightly more modern white one. I quite liked our cute little old one! For anyone's first time on the island I would recommend taking the train tour, it does take you right around the island and provides you with some interesting information as to the island's past. During the years it was Tito's private island, he used it as a place to keep the animals he was given by foreign dignitaries. (The island did have a historic connection as a zoo, it was used in the early 20th century as a place to acclimatise and study animals coming to Europe) Tito died in 1980 and in 1983 the island was declared a National Park and his private zoo became a safari park. Descendants of those animals he was given now populate the park.
Zebras from an African president
The elephant Lanka, she was hiding while we were there and then started moving around as we left, so a quick photo from the train! In the 1970s the Indian President Indira Gandhi gave Tito two elephants, Sanyo arrived in 1970 and died in 2010, Lanka is still alive. Her companions now are her keepers, she's quite an old elephant.
These white goats are the Istrian goat and are the symbol of Istria, they're on the Istrian flag. (And the Croatian flag too if you look very carefully!)
The train tour took us around to where the hospitality villas are for visiting dignitaries, still used today and also Tito's main villa, well we just saw the gate as that's still used today as well! He did have a private villa on the nearby small island of Vanga, and that's still been used by the Croatian president. So no visits by tourists! (When I visited Lake Ohrid, the boat guide pointed out a villa on Lake Ohrid that Tito used, now used by the Macedonian president. Tito had a lot of holiday homes!) I was a bit disappointed I thought some of the villas would be open, but no, they're still in use!
We were taken back to the main harbour area where there is a cafe and given a 30 minute break before we could get back on the train and visit the 2 museums on the island. It was at that point that I thought I'd leave the tour and do my own thing as the museums were in walking distance, and it was better to see them with a few people rather than a trainload! I could get lunch when it was quieter at the cafe as well.
The first exhibition space I went to was the boathouse, it was built for the island doctor in 1902 and he lived there with his family.
The boathouse from the water.
Entrance to the boathouse, it's been beautifully restored.
The Brijuni Islands have a long history, and were inhabited. Unfortunately they were malaria prone and by the end of the 19th century were used mainly for their quarries, most of Venice is made from Istrian stone. In 1894, the whole archipelago was bought by an Austrian industrialist called Paul Kupelweiser, and he enlisted the help of a microbiologist and managed to eradicate the mosquitoes that carried the malaria. Kupelweiser then set about turning the main island into a tourist haven for the upper class of Austrian society. He built hotels, restaurants, a yacht harbour, a golf course (which is still there), his son established a polo competition. It was the place to be seen and have a vacation. The boathouse has a display of some of the people that holidayed on Brijuni. Including James Joyce who celebrated his 23rd birthday on the island in 1905. (Saw the picture!) King Michael of Romania (who's only just died) spent time as a child holidaying on the island with his mother and aunt in the 1920s. (Another picture!) I didn't recognise the other notables.
The Istra Hotel, I didn't think this hotel was that old, until I saw a picture of it having been bombed during World War II and the part on the right had collapsed. The picture was from 1947 when Tito visited the island, so I assume parts of this hotel date back to the early 20th century Austrian Riviera era.
Taken with a long lens, supposedly the tallest steeple in Istria. (I write supposedly as Google doesn't agree with the tour guide commentary!)
As the island had a resident population there are some old chapels.
St Rochus Church, dating back to 1504. Tiny little church, now used as exhibition space.
Behind the cafe is an example of a traditional Istrian house and courtyard, I think it was purpose built as an exhibition as it has a shepherd's hut which you find out in the countryside not attached to a house.
A Kažun, an Istrian shepherd's hut.
Travelling to Pula on the main road I could see some examples of these stone huts. They were used by shepherds and farmers too for shelter, particularly during summer. They could rest inside the hut during the main heat of the day and then work the fields in the cooler evening. According to my mother, those farmers who had fields close to their homes would just go home when the temperatures rose. But many farmers had fields far away and so it wasn't viable to spend time travelling home (as they walked several kilometres!) so they rested in the Kažun. A nice little parallel that I thought of, southern Italy, in the Puglia region has similar styled huts called Trulli, same idea, for farmers to take a break from the heat.
St Germain's Church from 1491
Inside St Germain's church, which has been nicely restored.
At the main 'town' part of the island, the church and the vestry.
The Tito museum, which was about his life on the island and the guests he hosted. Fascinating to see, dictators and royals!
I was running out of time on the island, if I had more time I would have hired a bike to ride around, it's fairly flat. There are also electric golf buggies that were very popular with visitors! Among the things I only got a brief glimpse of were the dinosaur footprints, and the Roman ruins, they weren't walking distance away. I did manage the ancient olive tree, it's been dated to be 1,600 years old.
The pine grove.
There are also swimming areas for people to go into the water, for a second visit I think I would just either hire a bike or if feeling lazy a golf buggy! There's quite a lot to see and do in a day trip.
On the way back to Pula
Going into the Pula marina, the Arena from the sea.
The Brijuni Islands are an archipelago of 15 islands (and islets) off the coast of Istria. The largest one called Veliki Brijuni (translated to Large Brijuni, a very original name for the largest island!)it can be reached by boats and ferries. Veliki Brijuni was declared a national park and has a tourist infrastructure with hotels and guest villas. (The islands are also known by their Italian name of Brioni, as between the world wars they were part of Italy.)
Brijuni fascinated me because I knew of the islands from childhood as they were the personal playground for the Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito and were closed off to the outside world. Unless you were invited onto the islands, as in you were a celebrity of world leader, regular people had no access to the islands. The island inhabitants were 'encouraged' to all leave in the 1960s! After Tito died Veliki Brijuni was declared a national park and then with the creation of the country of Croatia, the islands were opened up to tourism again.
There are two main ways to get across to the main island, there's the regular ferry that departs several times a day from the town of Fažana, just across what is called the Fažana strait, as it's the closest point from the mainland to the island, it's only 3km. Or you can take a tourist boat from Pula, which is further away and takes 45 minutes. I originally planned to take the bus from Pula to Fažana and then take the ferry across, but the bus times didn't suit! There was a bus at 9am and then a large gap until 11.40am, so factoring the 8km travel time to Fažana then waiting for the ferry, I thought taking a tourist boat was the better option. It was more expensive, the ferry is 220 kuna and the tourist boat cost me 310 kuna (to be fair it was a longer boat trip) The boat I took was called the Martinabella and it left the Pula marina at 10.45am and returned at 4.30pm. (It does an evening trip across as well) The timing was perfect for me and I could just stroll down to the marina and not mess around with bus schedules.
The boat trip across was lovely so worth taking a longer trip, the boat then docks in the main harbour on the island behind the historic boathouse.
Once on the island you can do your own thing or join the organised tour, I'd never been on Brijuni before so opted for the tour. The Martinabella docks just before the Fažana ferry so the people are grouped together into language groups for the tour. I opted for the English group!!!
We all hopped into a little train to take us around the island.
There is also another little train, a slightly more modern white one. I quite liked our cute little old one! For anyone's first time on the island I would recommend taking the train tour, it does take you right around the island and provides you with some interesting information as to the island's past. During the years it was Tito's private island, he used it as a place to keep the animals he was given by foreign dignitaries. (The island did have a historic connection as a zoo, it was used in the early 20th century as a place to acclimatise and study animals coming to Europe) Tito died in 1980 and in 1983 the island was declared a National Park and his private zoo became a safari park. Descendants of those animals he was given now populate the park.
The elephant Lanka, she was hiding while we were there and then started moving around as we left, so a quick photo from the train! In the 1970s the Indian President Indira Gandhi gave Tito two elephants, Sanyo arrived in 1970 and died in 2010, Lanka is still alive. Her companions now are her keepers, she's quite an old elephant.
These white goats are the Istrian goat and are the symbol of Istria, they're on the Istrian flag. (And the Croatian flag too if you look very carefully!)
The train tour took us around to where the hospitality villas are for visiting dignitaries, still used today and also Tito's main villa, well we just saw the gate as that's still used today as well! He did have a private villa on the nearby small island of Vanga, and that's still been used by the Croatian president. So no visits by tourists! (When I visited Lake Ohrid, the boat guide pointed out a villa on Lake Ohrid that Tito used, now used by the Macedonian president. Tito had a lot of holiday homes!) I was a bit disappointed I thought some of the villas would be open, but no, they're still in use!
We were taken back to the main harbour area where there is a cafe and given a 30 minute break before we could get back on the train and visit the 2 museums on the island. It was at that point that I thought I'd leave the tour and do my own thing as the museums were in walking distance, and it was better to see them with a few people rather than a trainload! I could get lunch when it was quieter at the cafe as well.
The first exhibition space I went to was the boathouse, it was built for the island doctor in 1902 and he lived there with his family.
The Brijuni Islands have a long history, and were inhabited. Unfortunately they were malaria prone and by the end of the 19th century were used mainly for their quarries, most of Venice is made from Istrian stone. In 1894, the whole archipelago was bought by an Austrian industrialist called Paul Kupelweiser, and he enlisted the help of a microbiologist and managed to eradicate the mosquitoes that carried the malaria. Kupelweiser then set about turning the main island into a tourist haven for the upper class of Austrian society. He built hotels, restaurants, a yacht harbour, a golf course (which is still there), his son established a polo competition. It was the place to be seen and have a vacation. The boathouse has a display of some of the people that holidayed on Brijuni. Including James Joyce who celebrated his 23rd birthday on the island in 1905. (Saw the picture!) King Michael of Romania (who's only just died) spent time as a child holidaying on the island with his mother and aunt in the 1920s. (Another picture!) I didn't recognise the other notables.
The Istra Hotel, I didn't think this hotel was that old, until I saw a picture of it having been bombed during World War II and the part on the right had collapsed. The picture was from 1947 when Tito visited the island, so I assume parts of this hotel date back to the early 20th century Austrian Riviera era.
As the island had a resident population there are some old chapels.
Behind the cafe is an example of a traditional Istrian house and courtyard, I think it was purpose built as an exhibition as it has a shepherd's hut which you find out in the countryside not attached to a house.
Travelling to Pula on the main road I could see some examples of these stone huts. They were used by shepherds and farmers too for shelter, particularly during summer. They could rest inside the hut during the main heat of the day and then work the fields in the cooler evening. According to my mother, those farmers who had fields close to their homes would just go home when the temperatures rose. But many farmers had fields far away and so it wasn't viable to spend time travelling home (as they walked several kilometres!) so they rested in the Kažun. A nice little parallel that I thought of, southern Italy, in the Puglia region has similar styled huts called Trulli, same idea, for farmers to take a break from the heat.
I was running out of time on the island, if I had more time I would have hired a bike to ride around, it's fairly flat. There are also electric golf buggies that were very popular with visitors! Among the things I only got a brief glimpse of were the dinosaur footprints, and the Roman ruins, they weren't walking distance away. I did manage the ancient olive tree, it's been dated to be 1,600 years old.
The pine grove.
There are also swimming areas for people to go into the water, for a second visit I think I would just either hire a bike or if feeling lazy a golf buggy! There's quite a lot to see and do in a day trip.
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