Visiting the Smallest Town in the World (Hum, Croatia)
Visiting the Smallest Town in the World (Hum, Croatia) - With a population variously quoted at seventeen, 18 and 23, the small medieval travel marvel of Hum on the Istrian peninsula in western Croatia is officially listed by the Guinness Book of Records because the smallest city within the world. Such a moniker swells this village of very little over a dozen gray stone homes with many guests within the summer months. The overcast spring day that I visited, there looked as if it would be no over twenty individuals within the city (and let’s face it, you'll see each streets standing in one place within the mini main square).The size of the city belies its made history of around a thousand years. Its city walls and fortifications remind individuals of the regular battles fought over the centuries.
The Church of St Jerolim is richly adorned with fragments of brightly colored 800 year previous spiritual frescoes and is overseen by a formidable bell tower.Hum’s main claim is because the final purpose on the Glagolitic path, a walking path through variety of tiny villages over seven kilometres with eleven vital points of interest that commemorates this ancient Croatian script. The Glagolitic alphabet was introduced within the ninth century by Saint Cyril to translate the bible into the native Slavic language. whereas this script has pale into obscurity, this same saint was related to and has named once him the Cyrillic alphabet (used by variety of languages as well as Russian, Serbian and Bulgarian).
In Hum, a large copper door guards the entrance to the main stone passage into the town. The door includes words of welcome on the large door knockers and twelve shields symbolising the calendar months. Through the passageway are a number of stone tablets with ancient Glagolitic engravings.
The small village pub offers a homebrewed aromatic brandy called humska biska made from an ancient secret recipe which incorporates a cocktail of herbs including white mistletoe. The locals claim is has strong medicinal qualities with curative powers for a whole host of internal issues including high blood pressure. It certainly provides a relaxing afternoon tipple overlooking the olive fields and vineyards dreaming of what life must have been in this little Croatian hamlet, now a modern travel wonder with the impressive billing of smallest town in the world.
