Alfas Tour Istria, November 5-7th 2010

By Daniel Tomicic and staff

Dateline Istria

At Volosko, part of the tourist city of Opatija, the Stewart SS takes a break.

It’s hard to imagine a more exotic, multilayered, castellated and picturesque area than a small part of Croatia called Istria, which is actually a peninsula on the Adriatic Sea. Croatia itself is in southeast Europe and once part of the Roman Empire and later fought over by the Turks, Germans and Italians. In the early 20th century there was a large segment of Italians living in Istria, among them being the Andretti family, who lived in the mountain top town of Motovun (then Montona). Always sparsely populated, even today there are few cars but great roads.

All of which make the ingredients for an interesting car tour. On November 5-7th, the Scuderia Zagreb tossed up a small six car tour of the area. Significantly the entrants were all Alfas and three of them part of Scuderia Portello of Milan.

Porec served as the start for the Tour of Istria.

At the 2000 year old port of Porec the Alfas get ready to move out.

The Alfas waiting for a ferry in the town of Brestova. Roads are smooth and clear.

Says entrant Jason Stewart: “Today Northern Italy is so crowded, that it is a real struggle to find open roads and so Istria is a real motorist’s paradise. Of course I’m not talking about the summer months when I’m told Istria is just as congested as anywhere on the Adriatic coast, but autumn, when Daniel holds the Tour of Istria. When I say a motoring paradise I mean it. I think that in 3 days of driving, we only ever had to follow other cars for a total of about 40 minutes, which is quite extraordinary in this overcrowded world. And not only was there no traffic, but the roads are in very good condition, with smooth surfaces and they follow the landscape with a gentle rhythm that make an old Giulietta SS like mine an absolute joy to drive. Aside from the driving aspect, we had some memorable meals and everywhere we went we were very warmly welcomed.”

The cars had several ferry rides in order to get to the islands of Cres and Krk.

Our guess is the generator. Anyone want to lay odds? Alfa pit stop on the way to Losinj.

Ten Alfa enthusiasts in six Alfas gathered at Friday in Porec, a 2000 year old city on Istria west coast. At Saturday morning they continued on to a ferry port on the east coast and took a twenty minute ferry ride to islands of Cres and Lošinj, which are connected with a small bridge.

But the ferrys and the bridges were worth it, for here is the Island town of Losinj.

Rijeka is the largest port in Croatia and a bridge from the Island of Krk.

Another twenty minute ferry crossing took them to Krk island, through a long bridge to mainland and the biggest Croatian port of Rijeka. That is a place where the brothers Jankovits in 1930’s constructed one-off open car with Alfa 6C 2300 engine

Sunday started with photo session in front of gorgeous Belle Époque Villa Polesini in Porec and an event peak was staged over 1400 meter high Ucka mountain.

The newest car in the group hesitates before exiting the gates to the posh Villa Polesini in Porec.

The Tour ended in Motovun, where Mario Andretti was born in 1940. One can still walk up the mountain to the town, but there are over 1000 steps to get there, so it’s a bit easier via Alfas. Mario spent the first eight years of his life here, playing in the streets under dominated by a 13th century bell tower. After the war, Istria became part of Yugoslavia under Marshall Tito’s communist regime, and many Italians decided to leave. The Andrettis left for Lucca, Italy in 1948 and came to the U.S. in 1955.

As the entrants arrived in Motovun they found a special notice from Andretti. “I’m happy to see an event with classic cars touring through beautiful Istria. I’m certain everyone will enjoy their visit.”

So, get it while it’s good. Our bet is that given the proximity, beauty, nice weather and lack of traffic in the fall, the Tour of Istria might just become a very crowded event!