Fažana is a picturesque fishing town on southwestern coast of the Istrian peninsula situated near the ancient town of Pula ideal for relaxation and recreation. It is also the port from where you can reach the Brijuni Islands National Park, the well-known Earth’s paradise.
Families with children will find beautiful beaches and playgrounds, recreation enthusiasts various sports facilities, quality food lovers numerous restaurants and nature lovers the beautiful seaside promenade where everyone can enjoy sunsets and sea air. Fažana is a place rich in history and culture, where you can enjoy in numerous concerts and events. Galleries and shops with local products are situated in small and picturesque stone paved streets.
The unavoidable symbol of Fažana is the pilchard which you cannot miss during your stay in Fažana. It can be found in fishing net in the port, restaurants and events dedicated to this blue fish, on the promenade of the Pilchard road at the waterfront and in the Pilchard Park! Numerous important people from the world of science, culture, film, fashion and sports have walked along the Fažana waterfront and enjoyed its beauty and tranquility.
Brijuni National Park is an oasis of the magnificent harmony between man, animal and plant life. There are almost 700 plant species and about 250 bird species on the islands,whereas the mild Mediterranean climate makes it a pleasant health resort. After leaving Fažana, the line of green islands viewed from the boat, transforms into Veliki Brijun, the largest of the 14 islands.
The traces of dinosaurs, remains of Antiquity and later periods, achievements of modern times are all present in this area, whose development as an exclusive resort starts in 1893 thanks to the “old Austrian”, the industrialist Paul Kupelwieser, owner of the Brijuni Islands. This fashionable seaside resort and one of the leading health resorts started developing and gaining popularity all over Europe and worldwide, but this unfortunately ended with the beginning of World War I.
The coast of the Brijuni Islands has stayed in memory of 90 presidents from 60 countries, as well as numerous movie stars which were guests of Josip Broz Tito in his residential villas on the islands.Italian writer and film director Pier Paolo Pasolini named Fažana "A magical little place", during his stay in Istria.
A wealth of Roman architecture lifts otherwise-workaday Pula (ancient Polensium; Pola in Italian) from the humdrum. The star of the show is the remarkably well-preserved Roman amphitheatre, smack in the heart of the city, which dominates the streetscape and doubles as a venue for summer concerts and festivals.
Pula’s most famous and imposing sight is this 1st-century oval amphitheatre, overlooking the harbour northeast of the old town. It's a huge and truly magnificent structure, slotted together entirely from local limestone and known locally asthe Arena. Designed to host gladiatorial contests and seating up to 20,000 spectators, it still serves the mass-entertainment needs of the local populace in the shape of concerts and film-festival screenings.
Fronted by a high porch supported by six Corinthian columns, this small but perfectly proportioned temple was built sometime between 2 BC and AD 14. It survived the Christian era by being converted into a church, only for it to be destroyed by a bomb in 1944. The subsequent stone-by-stone reconstruction has brought it back to something closely approaching its former glory, and it now houses a small archaeological display.