Buje on a Hill: Photograph by Will Tenney

Buje on a Hill

Perched high on a hill like so many other good Italian towns, Buje (Buie in Italian) now in Croatia, was part of the Venetian Republic from the 14th century to the end of the 18th century, and was part of Italy, like the rest of Istria, between the World Wars. Except for the fact that half of the town speaks Croatian, one might be fooled into thinking that one was still in Italy. Buje was the high-point on our day’s cycle from Slovenia to Poreč on the Croatian coast. It was almost all downhill from here.