Stories of Istrian Lighthouses

Istria has nine active lighthouses and all of them have a legend of their own.

Istria has nine active lighthouses and all of them have a legend of their own. Some of them might be true, some of them are supernatural, but they all make sense if you imagine what kind of a solitary life lighthouse keepers might have lead. Anyway, stories of these lighthouses are fun to hear. So, let's light up this story.

The eastern Istrian lighthouse Crna Punta tells a story of hidden gold in various places above and beyond sea, but it was never found despite many attempted searches. Verudica in Pula stands on the ground where the Roman Emperor Vespasian allegedly threw a great amount of coins to break the curse of the Amphitheatre builders he didn’t fully pay. There are three ghost stories saying that the characters of these legends can be sometimes seen even today. The one from Savudrija says that a count built it as a disguise for a love nest, but his loved one died before getting a chance to see it. The one from Rt Zub (literally translated: Cape Tooth) says that an old woman waited for her fisherman husband after everyone thought he died at sea – but he arrived, and she turned young again with perfect teeth.

The last ghost story says that the Venice Doge died in a shipwreck near Rovinj’s island Sveti Ivan na Pučini after a promise to St. John (Sveti Ivan) he didn't keep. This isn’t the only shipwreck story. Nobody can surely tell how exactly was a lighthouse built on a bare rock Porer near Premantura – the sea here is always moody and the graveyard of ships below proves it. Ultimately, National park Brijuni’s lighthouse named Pinida holds giant creature’s footprints of an unknown origin. Some even say alien footprints. Some say it’s just a shape of rock and this story is a result of someone’s vivid imagination.

After hearing the impossible, here is something possible: temporarily experiencing Robinson Crusoe kind of life in one of these lighthouses!

The company Plovput owned by the Republic of Croatia makes all of the arrangements, because these lighthouses are common Croatian cultural heritage, some way more than a century old. If you're just interested in watching them from the safety of the shore, that’s fine too. For a more refined lodging, Lovely Istria has several villas in the vicinity of these „stone lights “. For example, Villas Viviana and Jan are near Brijuni’s lighthouse Pinida, the place Sošići with Villas Marisa and Patricia is near Rovinj (lighthouse St John at Sea). Villas Romantica and Prisedi gravitate towards the position of Cape Black Point, but keep in mind it’s very hard to reach through the woods, only by foot, and it’s best if approached from the sea side. Just saying, in case you decide to go for a gold hunt ;)