Croatia

Even as you live in history at Diocletian’s Palace, you need not feel confined by it. Instead, history defines and enriches your experience with an injection of the cheeky Croatian personality.

The hot wind of August blows dry in Istria, flinging dust devils to interrupt the sun. Motovun shimmers and undulates in the distance. It’s a medieval mirage, atop the hill the Venetians could only take by force instead of politics in the 13th century.

“But here, enough talking, let’s taste,” Ivica Matosevic smiles as he pours his Malvasia. We’re sitting at a picnic table on the veranda of Ivica’s wine cellar in Kruncici, the middle of Istria. It’s the beginning of my love affair with the best wine in Croatia.