Hum

Only an hour-long pleasant drive from Opatija, you can turn your trip to Hum into a beautiful story of Istrian small towns. This hidden part of Istria is extremely friendly to random visitors and you can always find a parking space there and as traffic jams are rare even in the peak of the summer season. Today, Hum is a city-monument, one of the rare examples of urban development within city walls.

Origins and customs
According to the legend, Hum was built with the stones left over when giants were building towns in the river Mirna valley, an area in central Istria that includes wonderful hill towns such as Motovun, Roč and Bale. Despite its small number of residents Hum has preserved the old ritual 'Election of the prefect for a year' when all the men from the parish gather at the Municipal Loggia (town hall) to elect the village superior by carving their votes into a wooden stick.

What to see and do in Hum
Apart from being famous for being the smallest city in the world, recently Hum became popular for biska, a brandy spiced with mistletoe and made according to an old recipe originating from Hum. Every year at the end of October, the Grappa festival takes place here, presenting brandy producers from all over Istria.