Large audience, mostly families with children, every Sunday at the main dock of the island welcomes sympathic professor Epolonius de Histri, which embodies actor from Pula Frano Novljan and who leads the audience through the entire program of walking performances. After meating the professor Epolonius who informs the visitors about the program of performances and teaches them about the myths and legends of Istria without  leaving the island, all together they join him in a walk to the first checkpoint, where they are greeted by the imaginative world of Jules Verne. On this point the children join the interactive performance and dive in the sea world with submarine Nautilus – the dive, learn about and become sea creatures.

One of the most interesting points is definitely a point with ‘fire babe (grannies)’ where is held an interactive performance that includes jumping above the fire, which is inspired by the tradition and customs of Saint Johan Night, when people are jumping above the fire. In this performance can enjoy both children and adults, who are recalling their childhood games. Through the fun game they are instructed to the next point, where they meet the terrible Orko.

Orko is ‘half man, half pig’ who charmed the audience with his song and they are  misleaded on the wrong way … But there is a sympathic professor who throughout the play takes care of his visitors and lead them to the right path and journey through the history of Istria and learning about the mythical creatures of Istria – Veli Joze and the dragon. On this point children love to take photo with this authentic Istrian beings, and soon after that they  visit the magical lighthouse – one of the most important on the eastern Adriatic coast in the rich history of this area. Visitors can enjoy a performance of the theater of shadows and fire burning on top of lighthouse along with romantic sounds of the accordion.

The final part of Istra Inspirit is performed in the courtyard of castle Pollesini where the audience can once again relax and enjoy the interesting sketch of Istrian cooks in an interactive way of making Istrian pasta that is called fuži and pljukanci with singing, dancing and entertaining. But to make the experience complete, visitors have the opportunity to meet Count Pollesini and his wife Isabella and dance with them Viennese waltz, as the whole event gets an extra romantic atmosphere.

A treat for the end are pirates who with their incredible energy bring the children adventures of famous Captain Morgan and his gang. Robbery, dancing, sinking the ship and songs are what is needed to meet the pirate life.

Fire show is an effective finale of this great show enjoyed by absolutely everyone. With the fire and dramatic music onto the scene comes glorious fire-breathing dragon that belches fire.

Myths, legends and stories that are used as inspiration for the show come from the books, which are a bit forgotten for expanding knowledge. Therefore, Professor Epolonius de Histri for the end reminds visitors what they need to do: read, read and read!

Art director: Petra B. Blašković

Photography: Manuel Paljuh

Post Walking on the island of Sveti Nikola from this summer is no longer the same… je prvi puta viđen na Istra Inspirit Blog.

Henry Morgan was embodied by Antonio Jakupčević, academic actor from Osijek, while his pirates successfully revived Dominik Karakašić,  Šandor Slacki, Frano Novljan, Elena Orlić, Petra B. Blašković, Dean Gotal and Samuel Augustiny. On the sound of the pirate song reminded us ‘pirates – musicians': Andrej Pezić, Samanta Stell, Anka Kovač Augustiny, Nataša Dragun and versatile Miroslav Cerovac, Sedina Cerovac and Kristijan Dellabernardina. Other roes that illustrate medieval atmosphere of the Dvigrad belong to Zoja Poropat, Jasna Petković and Denis Brižić who was using native chakavian dialect and managed to evoke the Middle Ages of Istria. For mask and makeup is credited Ivna Škoro, and for the authentic pirate costumes Kristina Nefat and Marina Štemberg.

Istra Inspirit musical managed again to revive the medieval Dvigrad and has demonstrated the quality of their performance. 

Photo: Nevio Doz – Udruga Format

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Bucolaj by chef Robert Perić

6 EGGS for health

250 g of SUGAR for a lot of love

180 g of OIL for a bit of passion

1 kg of FLOUR for good fun

A CUBE OF FRESH YEAST for wisdom

A PINCH OF SALT for a joke

GRATED LEMON OR ORANGE ZEST for good friends

A BIT OF BRANDY for a lot of joy

VANILLA SUGAR as „the cherry on the cake“…

Preparation

Mix together all ingredients, knead the dough and leave it to rise.  Shape the risen dough into rolls to a size that can be rolled around the palm of the hand.  Shape the dough into rings and leave it to rise a bit more.  Bake in an oven at 180 degrees until the dough is golden brown.  Remove from the heat, allow to cool a little, then the baked pastries can be dipped into the brandy and sprinkled with sugar.

Et, voila!

Post Bon appétit and best wishes for the sweetest 2016! je prvi puta viđen na Istra Inspirit Blog.

Take a journey with Istra Inspirit and travel through the history of Istria… Every month brings a new Inspirit and new inspiration: Crispo, Jules Verne, Mare the witch, Spacio, Iustitia, Kupelwieser on Brijuni, Vodnjan tales, Fools or oxen?, The Miner’s Republic, Old Buzet, Morgan’s treasure, The lighthouse of love…

Print your Inspirit calendar and become a part of our stories through the whole year

Design: Illeconcept

Realisation: MEDIT Pula

Photo: Istra Inspirit

The project ‘DOCENDO DISCIMUS’ is co-funded by the Ministry of Tourism within the project ‘Through education to sustainable tourism in Istria.’

Post New year with Inspirit je prvi puta viđen na Istra Inspirit Blog.

Virtual sightseeing – Jules Verne in Pazin castle

For more information:

http://istrapano360.com/

Tel. 00385/(0) 98/587602

Email: info@istrapano360.com

Post Jules Verne – Virtual sightseeing of Pazin castle je prvi puta viđen na Istra Inspirit Blog.

‘It was a warm summer night when we traveled into an Inspirit story about the sea, fulfilled with delicious fish and tasty wine, from the little pier of the Rovinj Riva to the traditional boat called “ batana”. The local fisherman,who catches fish since early in the morning to feed his family, talked about the meaning of his batana boat while rowing to the antique cellar, Spacio Matika, where we will enjoy the dinner. In local dialect, “Spacio” means “cellar”, a place where people from Rovinj used to keep the food products in the massive wooden barrells and hangout, sing, play ‘briskula’ and ‘ tresete’  after a hard-working day. Dinner at Spacio is an experience that is described as a perfect match to the fresh fish, local wine and the hosting of ‘ Barba Rino’, followed by the sound of ‘bitinada’, the typical Rovinj fishermen song interpreted by the skillful singers ‘bitinadurs’  from KUD Marco Garbin. This memorable evening is then come to the end with the sunset and the beautiful Rovinj peninsula… ‘

(Real experience of the guest, Sanja B.)

Post Spacio, the experience that I recommend… je prvi puta viđen na Istra Inspirit Blog.

The main character, our Captain Henry Morgan, was acted by a young actor from Osijek Antonio Jakupčević. Throughout the whole show, he did an execellent job on playing the role of the fierce captain of the pirates. For one magical evening, life has been brought back to the abandoned, middle-age town of Dvigrad. With the actors, musicians, acrobats and even the fire-breathers, a joyful and lively atmosphere with music and dances was created within the walls of the castle.It’s really hard to express how wonderful the vibe was if you haven’t seen it yourself!

‘Aye Aye, father.

What? Who is there?

My name is Harri Morgan. Father, I seek a safe place for myself to hide.

Why do you need to hide?

I’m not sure that you, as man of faith would like to hear about the things that i’ve done.

Please, tell it to me, my child. The God is forgiving.

Yes, father, I’m sure, but already made reservations in Hell, along with the people that are searching for me.

Oh yes, I’m not alone here. I’m being followed.’

At the very beginning of the show, as we slowly walked down the rocky path to the castle,we were welcomed by two women infected with illness.They protraited the atmosphere of the town destroyed by the plague in the past perfectly. For the excellent make up, the credit goes our make-up artist Ivna Škoro. Then the storyline was surrounded by the dialogue between a friar, who is the  academic actor Denis Brižić and Captain Henry Morgan. With a melancholic tone, Captain morgan gave confession to the friar on his days with his pirates crew on finding the ‘lost treasure’, the treasure that can be found in each of us.

The whole story about Captain Morgan and his arrival to Dvigrad, where he hide the treasure, has gone to a new dimension when the pirates crew came to the castle with the music, mimics and the gesticulations. Watching the pirates singing songs, swallowing swords and blowing fire, the audiences enjoyed an authentic feast of the pirates in the sea.  For the creation of this unique experience, we have to thank Petra B. Blašković who was also acting in the performance. Beside already mentioned actors, there are also the excellent Dominik Karakašić, Šandor Slacki and Nenad Pavlović playing the roles of the pirates, musicians Nataša Dragun, Samanta Stell, Anka Kovač Augustiny and Sebastian Stell as well as Zoja Poropat and Jasna Petković in the roles of the plague patients.

The ones who give the additional value to the whole experience are the multitalented Miroslav and Sedina Cerovac and Kristijan Dellabernardina ‘Kolumbo’ as the fire breathers.The composers of the music are Bika Blasko and Ognjen Jovanović. Other supporting actors in the performance are Elena Orlić, Damir Benčić, Nikolina Baškarad, Danijel Zmaj Novoselac and Luka Kontošić. The costumes were designed by Kristina Nefat.

What will we do with a drunken sailor?

What will we do with a drunken sailor?

What will we do with a drunken sailor?

Early in the morning

Celebratingt he summer season with our show Morgan’s Treasure, we also hosted the famous world bloggers and journalists – Ashley Colburn(http://www.ashleycolburnproductions.com), Kiersten Rich – http://theblondeabroad.com/,  Lauren Lucore,  Perrie Laura Hartz (http://twitter.com/fodorstravel, https://twitter.com/perriehartz) and Sabrina & Guclu (www.justonewayticket.com) who are in Istria within the project Share Istria organized by the Istrian Tourist Board.

We would also like to give thanks to KUD Dvigrad, Municipality of Kanfanar, all our volunteers and students especially to Manuela B., Saša, Ivana, Ivan i Sanja but also to sponsors who support this project and AIESEC organization.

The next Morgan’s treasure is on schedule on August 18th:

http://www.istrainspirit.hr/en/event/morgans-treasure

Photos: Istra Inspirit.

Translation: Demi Yu (AIESEC)

Post Summer season kick-started in Dvigrad je prvi puta viđen na Istra Inspirit Blog.

When we first got the invitation for the Travel Zoom conference this year and we saw that its title is ‘Become the icon’ it did not say anything to us. But after attending the first day of speeches, workshops and panel discussions it was clear – BECOME YOUR HERO OR ICON – we realized it said everything about strategic and creative marketing based on ‘storytelling’. We have already been aware of the importance of the ‘storytelling’ technique nowadays as one of the most important marketing tools especially when we speak about tourism.

Tourism is full of stories

We just have to discover our stories, write them and transform them into experiences. Easy to say, (not so) hard to do. When you have experts such as Damjan Obal (UX Crafter, hobby magician & chief storyteller, Edgar Slovenia) in front of you you have to create your story or as the workshop itself said ‘Find the story in you’. Of course we had to find the story in our companies or organizations we work for – travel agencies, hotel chains, tourist boards, tourist destinations…

As we mentioned Istra Inspirit it was clear we already have stories. Stories made of myths, legends, history facts – retold in an innovative and creative way. Our hero is our Inspirit goat with its mantle that goes around and with its super powers sees Istria that anybody else sees – sees the underground world of Raša with its coal mine, sees the fishermen world in Rovinj, sees the witches in Svetvinčenat and the Romans in Medulin (Vizula). Our goat sees all the time periods and not only present. That’s its super power.

So we solved the challenge at the first workshop and then continued the creative travel with other like-minded people we met at the conference.The following presentation was made by Andrej Pompe & Mateja Gruden (BrandBusinessSchool, Slovenia) who thaught us how to ‘Work different and play better’ on some examples of creating the innovative tourism products also based on stories – family, historical, local stories… Once again we realized we were on a right path. We are doing the right thing – we are translating stories into experiences. Neverthelless in the presentaion made by Andrej and Mateja we discovered so many interesting and useful details which we can implement to improve even more what we’re doing…. Putting even more emphasis on some key elements (and taking advantage of them) that are trending in tourism nowadays such as nature (photo safari, forest selfness, api wellness, survival weekend, stargazing),  gastronomy (authentic and local), history & culture (experience of communism, etc.).

Somehow we realized some things that we already knew before but we were not aware of that – stories are important because they make us remember things better, we can find identifications with ourselves and we also like to share them with others… Beside that we all like heroes. Once again the emphasis is put on local stories – whether they are invented, adventorous, cultural, funny, history, family or fairytales… We are selling local and authentic experience.

Storyville

Our afternoon was challenged with another interesting workshop in the marketing area called ‘Cultural tourists: It’s 2015’s fastest growing market that everyone wants.’ by Ericka Clegg (Co-founder and Executive Creative Director, Spring, UK). Ericka was so dynamic and straight forward, she reminded us of everything we should have already known about marketing in culture and at the same time made us think of some new marketing tools that we didn’t know they existed. Beside that she made us think about tourist packages – so important for the destinations. Our case was a city called ‘Storyville’ known for a literature festival but with no good image and a lack of local people involved in the festival story. So our group invented many tools to improve the image of the festival and also put government on our side. We will not say everything here because something has to be left at the conference.

We just wanted to share with you a good vibe we had with people there in Zagreb and also say thanks to the organizers – Gorazd Cad and his team to make such an intense and interesting workshop conference specialized in the area we are dedicated to – marketing communications in tourism that we want to improve every day. 

You can find out more about the conference here.

Post Our Story on ‘Become the Icon” je prvi puta viđen na Istra Inspirit Blog.

The visit to the fair was scheduled for the next morning. We had to get up quite early to get to Excel before 10 am because the place was in a completely different part of the city. We were already fascinated at the entrance – the impressive campaign of the Flanders region (the official partner of the fair) called  ‘Keep the history alive’ , designed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the World War One (1914th-2014th) was the most memorable one. Young boys dressed up in clothes styled like the beginning of 20th century greeted us at the entrance offering daily newspaper with typical titles from the 1914. Also, during the fair, whole city of London was collecting symbolic donations, and was giving a small brooch formed like red flanders poppy flower. This was a symbol of remembrance for the soldiers killed during the war. It was a beautiful way to make the whole city blossom with this special red poppy symbol standing for an important anniversary.

We spent most of our visit to the fair at the Croatian Tourist Board stand where we had the opportunity to see and welcome the ssociates and partners of the project, and to present our offer for Morgan’s treasure to  some of the distinguished agency representatives. What we were also really impressed with, in addition to the high-quality presentations and educational workshops, was a number of performances with which some of the destinations represented themselves. They interactively included the visitors in their ‘story’. It was a great example we could learn from – Istra Inspirit could become a main asset our tourist board could use when presenting Croatia’s touristic offer and Croatia as a destination. This was a perfest example of how Istra Inspirit could become a destination point through ‘storytelling’.

The next day we had some free time for sightseeing and to visit some of my dearest places in London. Among other, we paid a visit to the famous department store Harrods where we were once again presented with the power and importance of design and visual elements in an offer presentation. We enjoyed the interactive conceptual cafe and bookstore National Geographic where the ideas for one of our new project (under the working title ‘Inspirit point’) were just pouring down. But, more about that in some other post.

Post World Travel Market – Our trip to London je prvi puta viđen na Istra Inspirit Blog.