By IBIP students Haley and Erin
Today was a very relaxing day as we got to sleep in till 7am and left by 8! We started on an hour drive to the town of Hum. On the drive, our tour guide Iva told us many interesting stories and taught us a few new Croatian words and phrases. One of the stories she told us was about this tunnel we went through. The story goes that men would see a beautiful woman dressed in black as they drove through the tunnel. The men would stop and ask the woman if she needed a ride. Once the woman was in the car she would grab a hold of his hand and his future would appear. Then by the end of the tunnel the woman would disappear and the men were left confused. This situation/story happened so many times that the police actually started an investigation but of course found nothing.
Once in Hum we were given an hour to walk around. Let me tell you that that was more than enough time to walk the smallest town in the world. The legend goes that giants built Hum out of stone and were advised by dwarfs. Hum has a total of around 30 residents and the whole town can be walked in 10 minutes. The little town however had many cool sites like a church, a restaurant, and some souvenir shops. In the shops, many students bought items such as a coffee, tote bag, olive oils with truffle, espresso cups, and of course brandy or some form of alcohol.
After Hum, we got back on the bus and drove for a little bit until we arrived at our next destination, Fakin Winery. Upon arrival, we were greeted and immediately sat down at nicely set tables outside. We were provided with a charcuterie board and water and then we tried 4 wines. We started with rosé where we learned it only takes them 45 minutes to press the wine for this kind. Then we were served a white wine. We learned that the process of harvesting to bottling the wine takes any where up to two months but the longer it takes the better the wine. We then sampled two red wines and enjoyed each other’s companies. After students were able to purchase bottles if they desired to take home.
After the winery, we headed towards our last destination, Agritourism Toncic. Here we got to see how they store meats to hang dry for up to two years! We also were able to see a few of their farm animals such as chickens, sheep, and dogs. One of our study abroad students has experience showing and raising sheep in Ohio, so she was able to share some knowledge about the species. There were three dogs and each one had a different purpose. One was for hunting, one for hunting truffles, and another as a pet. After walking around for a little bit, we were invited inside to help prepare our meal. They taught us how to make the pasta from scratch with just eggs, salt, and flour. We then watched her roll the dough and cut it. Us students then got to try using those pieces to make the desired shape with a special tool. After the pasta making, the chefs prepared us an incredible meal of wine, bread, charcuterie board, eggs, soup, and three dishes of homemade pasta.