News

The Pula Arena was built by the Romans: a timber amphitheatre under Emperor Augustus, replaced in stone under Claudius and enlarged under Vespasian in AD 79 completed under Titus in AD 81. It could hold about 23,000 spectators, and today it is the only Roman amphitheatre with all four side towers preserved. Local legend, however, says it was built overnight by fairies.

Was Pula’s most famous landmark built by Roman engineers, or by fairies working beneath the moonlight?

Zerostrasse is a network of Austro-Hungarian tunnels beneath Kaštel hill in the centre of Pula, built during the First World War as air-raid shelters. About 400 metres are open to visitors, with the entrance at Carrarina 3 near the Twin Gates. A lift links the tunnels with Kaštel fortress and the Historical and Maritime Museum of Istria. It is open daily, 9:00 to 21:00 from 1 May to 30 September and 9:00 to 17:00 from 1 October to 30 April, which makes it a great rainy-day or winter outing from Arena Stoja Campsite.

Roman monuments may dominate Pula above ground, but another part of the city’s history lies hidden beneath its streets. Under Kaštel, the hill at the centre of the old town, cool, echoing corridors reveal Pula’s former role as one of the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s most important naval strongholds, and offer welcome relief from summer heat and autumn rain alike.

The House of Nature Kamenjak is a small visitor centre in the middle of Premantura, southern Istria, Croatia. Designed as “Kamenjak in miniature”, it has four aquariums, exhibits on the cape’s plants, insects and geology, and an interactive 3D dinosaur animation. It is open daily from 17:00 to 22:00 in July and August [ulaz: besplatan / cijena] and is closed outside the summer season.

Cape Kamenjak is famous for its secluded beaches, rocky coves and untamed scenery. Before you set out to explore the protected landscape, there is another attraction worth discovering in the heart of Premantura.

Porer Lighthouse is a 35-metre stone lighthouse built in 1833 on a tiny islet about 2 km southwest of Cape Kamenjak, the southernmost point of Istria. It is the tallest lighthouse in Istria and cannot be reached on foot. The best way to see it is on a boat excursion from Premantura, Medulin or Pula. Many tours only sail around the islet rather than land on it.

Stand on the rocky shore of Cape Kamenjak and look towards the open Adriatic. On the horizon, a solitary stone tower rises from an islet so small that the lighthouse seems to occupy almost all of it.