A mysterious pit that has always inspired human imagination is located underneath the walls of the Castle of Pazin -the Pazin Abyss. A natural wonder that has its roots in just a wonderful play of nature always seems to catch the eye of every passenger there.
There is even a local legend how the abyss was created: Long time ago in Istria when giants and people used to live together. On the northern part of Istria were lakes and ponds unlike on the south where there was no source of water so the locals asked the local giant Ban Dragonja to do something. He opened the way from the river to the sea by plowing furrows and made water accessible to everyone. He made the first furrow and named it after himself. Later the next day he made another furrow and named it after his wife, Mirna. On the third day, he plowed around the Castle of Pazin and a wife of the governor saw him and started to mock how shallow his furrow was. That made the giant angry and left away with water flowing in no specific direction and flooding its surroundings. The locals from Pazin begged the giant Ban to do something so he showed mercy and hit the ground with his huge leg and which made the Earth open right beneath the Castle of Pazin and that spot where he hit his leg is the famous Pazin Abyss.
Jules Verne, the father of SF, put the plot of his Mathias Sandorf novel in the Castle and the Pazin Abyss. Today, the Pazin Castle houses the Ethnographic Museum with exhibits of the life of the Istrian peninsula inhabitants.
Although Italianized a bit as almost all places in Istria, Pazin was one of the centers of Croatian struggle for national identity during the 19th century where locals and priests insisted on using Croatian as their first language in schools and public life in general.
When you go to Croatia – find a day to explore Pazin and it’s beautiful surroundings.
Pazin is known for its high-quality agricultural products and one of them is Pazin Turkey. It can weight up to 30kg and is very valued in gastronomy. An interesting fact is that the cultivation of those turkeys began around the mid-60s of the last century by importing the first species of this kind of turkey from Canada!
Since not being at the very coast, many people still don’t know much about Pazin or rarely think about visiting it but believe us, it’s worth visiting and you’ll not find many people who brag about their Istrian vacation with Pazin included in the whole thing, so why not be ahead of the others?
