Porec Off The Beaten Path

A day trip to Pula is well worth it - the amphitheatre is spectacular and will allow you to act out all your gladiator fantasies!!
The bus from Porec takes about 1-1 1/2 hours and goes along the coast via some pretty towns ans countryside.

Sv. Lovrec (Pazenaticki) is a semi-urban settlement located to the southeast of Porec. It is difficult to say precisely how old is this settlement, because traces of Christianity date back to the 3rd century, and its name is derived from the cemetery church of St. Lawrence of the 8th century.
Once called Sanctus Laurentius de Pasenatico, recognized the Venetian government in the second half of the 13th century.

The legend of Baredine:

a Poreè nobleman named Gabriel fell in love with a beautiful milkmaid from Nova Vas called Milka. Gabriel's mother tried, in every way, to diminish his love for her, but she couldn't, so she gave 3 gold pieces to highway robbers to secretly kill Milka. The robbers didn't kill the milkmaid but instead threw her into the cave. When Gabriel found out of his love's ill fortune, he got on a horse and disappeared. Only his horse was found but near another cave. The story has it that the stone body of the milkmaid is slowly skidding, from century to century, down to the bottom of the cave where we can see it now as it is seeking her lover. Today's cavers claim that one could pass through to the next cave by digging. So as our legend has it, we can assume that one day the bodies of our Romeo and Juliet will meet in the underworld and stay together forever.

One of my first surprises when I got in Croatia is they have vinyards! This one was just a few km out of Porec. Notice the red dirt.

A statute from 1600 prescribed ordinances of using the water from the public cistern, and the pressure when the cistern should be cleaned.

The Venetian erected a new fortification system during their rule. City walls, city gates, square towers and the loggia (see on the picture) are relatively well preserved.

The setlement got the atribute Pazenaticki, from the Italian "paese" = village, because of the said function.

Sv. Lovrec was the seat of the army commander of the Venetian part of Istria and later the seat of the captain for the village settlements south of the Mirna River.

See this old monument inside of the Town Loggia with characteristic Venetian lion which simbolized that S. Lovrec was a part of Venetian Republic