Dvigrad a place rich with history and stories

If during your Istrian vacation comes a day when you get tired of the turquoise Adriatic sea, pine woods that humm in the summer breeze and waves whisperingly hugging Istrian beaches, you might opt for a visit to Dvigrad, only a 20 minute drive from rentistra.com Villa Brioni and 30 minute drive from our Seafront rental apartments in Umag.
An awesome hillside town that looks like something out of Lord of the rings or Game of Thrones, only real and much more mysterious. Once a castle, a fortified town in it's heyday bustling with life of well over thousand inhabitants, that has lived through sieges, pirates, wars and plague, now lays forgotten by people and even time, overgrown with nature, offering some of the most instagrammable backgrounds to your Istrian holiday social media posts.
A place so rich with history and stories, jet almost entirely left to itself, offers an experience in the spirit of Indiana Jones, or Lara Croft. The quality of stone work is on an exceptional level, it is a place Graham Hancock would have a field day at, letting his imagination run wild, especially, because it is the place that famous pirate captain Morgan once visited, allegedly burying his treasure. The village of Mrgani / Morgani still remains to this day as a reminder of the eerie visit. The lost city is easily accessible by car only a few kilometers from the Istrian Y highway and can also be seen when you pass the Limska draga highway bridge.
Just take the exit Kanfanar and turn left when you come to the railroad track in Kanfanar, then continue for a couple of kilometers.
There used to be two castles hence the name Dvigrad, which in Croatian means two cities. Of the two only Moncastell remains. A fortress was first built on a strategic point along the Roman Via Flavia, the main road in those days. First archeological findings are from ancient history and the picturesque hill was inhabited all through antiquity and up until 1714 when the church of St. Sofija, of which it's proud walls still stand, stopped it's evangelical work.
The first written accord of Dvigrad is from the year 879 when the city church came under the government of the Aquilea bishops. Dvigrad is a place of epic beauty and amazing views as it sits a top of a hill at the end of the Lim fjord. When you turn inland you can see the picturesque rolling hills and valleys of Istria and when you turn towards the sea, you see the highway bridge spanning the valley and off of which base jumpers often jump. Dvigrad is also home to a host of limestone rock climbing cliffs offering some 70 climbing routs up to 26 meters high and from 6 up to 8,5+ difficulty, they are only a short drive inland from the castle city ruins.

It might be just me, thinking about food wherever I go, but Dvigrad just screams picnic and there is even a fully preserved public bread oven that seems to be used up until recently, if you close your eyes and take a deep breath through your nose, it could be just me, but I swear you can almost smell the bread baking in it.
When you bring your picnic basket, do not forget to clean after yourself, and make sure you don't start a fire. There is a small wooden hut next to the entrance, which offers coffee, tea and pancakes
But let's get back to Dvigrad's history. Legend has it that the infamous British privateer, buccaneer, corsair, sea rogue and freebooter, a real life pirate Henry Morgan and his tempestuous crew visited Dvigrad and hid a treasure in it's near surroundings.
The crew liked the place so much, that they decide to enjoy their much earned retirement and settled in the nearby town of Mrgani, that used to be named Morgani, which further thickens the plot, and no, they did not book a holiday rental apartment or a seaview villa with a pool through booking, rentistra or airbnb, they just came and took what they liked.
So... if you find yourself on vacation, with time finally on your side... do visit Dvigrad and discover it's mysteries, if not for Captain Morgan then for the ancient ruins, the serenity and soothing energy of this place, a wonder of Istrian landscape.