🇭🇷Parenzana Hiking: From Groznjan to Biloslavi and Beyond (Istria-Croatia)

The Parenzana in Italian and Croatian or Porecanka in Slovene is one of the nicknames of a defunct narrow-gauge railway (operating between 1902 and 1935) between Trieste and Porec (at that time Parenzo, hence the name Parenzana), in present-day Italy, Slovenia and Croatia.
When constructed, the railway's official name was Parenzaner Bahn or simply Parenzaner. Later it was known as the Istrian Railway and TPC (standing for "Trieste - Parenzo (now Porec) - Canfanaro (now Kanfanar)" ).

Among the area's current majority Croats and Slovenes, the railroad is also known as the Istranka or Istrijanka, both meaning 'Istrian'. In Slovene, the railway is also known as Porecanka or Parenzana, while in Croatian it is sometimes referred to as Porecka or Porečanka. In Italian the railroad's nickname is Parenzana.
The railway started at St. Andrew station (now a railway museum) in Trieste (Trst). It passed Milje (Muggia) and entered present day Slovenia in Skofije. The route first passed Dekani then turned towards the coast, passed Koper, Izola, Strunjan, Portoroz, Lucija, Secovlje, crossed the Dragonja river and entered the territory of the present day Croatia. Then it turned westwards, reached Valica, where Savudrija's station stood, then turned eastwards towards the Istrian interior. It passed Buje, climbed to Groznjan, where soon, after passing this town, it reached its highest point at an elevation of 293 meters above sea level, before starting to descend to Livade (13m above sea level) where it crossed the Mirna river. Then it started climbing again via Motovun and Vizinada to Baldasi where it reached another local extreme at 273 meters above sea level. From there it started to descend gradually, passing Visnjan and reaching Porec after 123 kilometers from Trieste.

Although initially planned and much effort made by local authorities, the fork from Valica to Umag was never built. On the other hand, since 1909 Piran was connected with the station in Portoroz (at that time Portoroz was a spa and a stop for guests was arranged in a private villa two years after the rail line was completed), first with a trolleybus, in 1912 replaced by an electrical tramway which was operating till 1953. (Source: Wikipedia)