February in Labin and Rabac

The culmination of the carnival events in Labin is on Saturday, 2 March, with a big carnival parade in the city centre and children’s carnival on Tuesday, 5 March. Once upon a time the locals used to call the carnival karbulji (masks). On Shrove Sunday, people would put on their masks and visit each other’s homes. Men would wear women's skirts, old wide woollen skirts, and women would wear men's trousers, tie and hat. They would carry a wrapped basket - košić – to collect eggs, and if they were given bacon and meat they would stick it on a wooden stick. Each group had musicians with bagpipes and double-reed shawms. The hosts would treat their guests with a jug of wine. After the cheerful toast to their hosts, the masquerade group would leave, with a decorated monkey carrying a straw puppet called Pust, with a small barrel of wine hidden inside its belly. During carnival time, in the afternoon, a decorated carriage would ride around Labin town and oranges were thrown out to the gathered people. On the square in front of town loggia, brass orchestra would perform live music, together with bagpipes and double-reed shawms and people were dancing an old dance called balun. On Shrove Sunday, it was customary to prepare chicken, krafi and fuži (home-made pasta) for lunch, and in each bigger village dances were held all the way to Ash Wednesday.

Celebrate the most romantic day of the year in the new Hotel La Loggia in the heart of Labin Old town. 200-year-old building behind the town loggia was transformed into a small boutique hotel whose elegant interior includes elements of industrial design. Celebrate love in the lounge and tapas bar or on the terrace with the spectacular view overlooking Rabac, the Kvarner Bay and the islands. Each weekend, the hotel offers a variety of musical and artistic events, and on Valentine's Day it will shine with full glamor of romance. Experience special life experiences in the exclusive ambience of Labin.
www.laloggiahotel.com

Opposite the La Loggia Hotel, on the San Marco promenade, you will find the gastronomic icon of Labin - Kvarner Restaurant, which has prepared a new menu offering traditional dishes in a modern style. The Gobo family, in collaboration with the Pula chef Jasmin Hajrula, designed rustic Istrian dishes with modern presentation such as beef tartar, home-made ravioli with ricotta cheese, black truffle and boletus risotto, salmon fillet with vegetables, cannelloni filled with home-made Istrian sausage and numerous interesting deserts. The Kvarner Restaurant is especially known for its top quality matured meat, which you can now enjoy in a new way.
Restaurant Kvarner
3 Šetalište San Marco, Labin
T 385 (0)52 852 336
www.kvarnerlabin.com

Dubrova sculpture park in Labin, the unique open-air sculpture park in Istria, has a new Facebook page where you can keep track of news and events in the park. Take advantage of the pleasant Mediterranean climate and walk through the park in late winter and early spring. Experience the art of the greatest Croatian and world artists fused with a mild Istrian landscape whose symbol is stone. Discover Dolac amphitheatre and walk through Bijela Cesta (White Road), a spatial-art project that is upgraded year after year through the works of the International Sculpture Symposium. More than thirty sculptures were cleaned and repaired last year, and a part of the White Road made by Zdravko Milić was completed. The park is located at the entrance to Labin, near the main road Labin - Rijeka, next to Dubrova restaurant, open all year round and admission free.
www.facebook.com/ParkSkulpturaDubrova/

If you have never experienced Valentine's Day at the sea, Valamar Sanfior 4 * Hotel in Rabac offers you this unique experience. Rabac Bay, the island of Cres, picturesque green hills and clear green-blue sea make the perfect setting of your long-awaited romantic holiday. Treat yourself to the romantic ambience and surprises in the hotel room. Enjoy your diner with candles on an elegant terrace with a view. Relax with the wellness treatments for two. Discover more secrets of first rate vacations for couples at the Valamar Sanfior Hotel.
www.valamar.com/en/hotels-rabac/valamar-sanfior-hotel

The Ceramic Craftshop Keramika A.R. from Labin will present the mythology tradition of Istria with its original souvenirs. Within the Interreg project of Slovenia - Croatia, ‘Živa štrigarija - Živa coprnija’, with the aim of actively cultivating the mythology tradition of Istria and Pohorje, two souvenirs were chosen with the characters of štriga and krsnik (male and female witch) designed by Roberta Dušman-Franković and Aleks Klobas. Their souvenirs will be given to the visitors of the future route ‘Putovima Žive štrigarije od Pohorja do Istrie’.
Obrt Keramika A. R.
1 E. Štenberger, Labin
M 385 (0)95 8224 198
www.facebook.com/Keramika-AR/