Bale

Our mum and dad worked and fell in love in the quaint township of Pazin in Istria some 68 years ago. Yesterday and today we followed their footsteps. Pazin is a small town in central Istria. The old part of the town is called Kastel ( Castle) which was built on a hill about 130 meters above the abyss called Jama. The only information we had about mum and dad was that they had told us they worked ( mum teaching basket weaving and dad an electrician) , lived and here, over the Pazinicka River they fell in love. We had a small black and white photo with us. After asking a few locals if they knew any information about these industries, we were pointed in the direction of the castle museum. Imagine our luck as we arrived to discover the museum was celebrating 70 years of Pazin history. From basket weaving, cooking, working and living. The exhibition was photographic and involved workshops. Of course we booked into the basket weaving workshop ( weaving with corn sheaths) and had a delightful couple of days chatting with locals and weaving small baskets. They were intrigued by our mum and dad’s story and immediately recognised where the photo had been taken and took us there. It was surreal to be in the same place where mum and dad lay basking in each others love on the banks of the Pazinicka River with the unmistakable white rocks which pepper the landscape here. We found the building of the old weaving factory too. Such a lovely way to spend days wondering what they wondered all those years ago.Read more