Another tourist season is upon us. The only café that is open almost all year round will soon be joined by two more. The hotel opened a few days ago. One of the restaurants opened a month ago, while another recently opened for weekends only. By Easter, all the restaurants in town will be open all week long. The same holds for stores with souvenirs of all kinds. Several new ones have appeared around Motovun, as well. Rooms, apartments, and houses for rent are springing up everywhere. It is thus high time for the municipal office to come up with a clear and simple policy regulating public signage: size, materials, design, placement, lighting. What is on offer is often no less than dreadful. But I am only kidding, of course. Rather, I am only cajoling myself. Would that public signage were our main problem!

Addendum (November 19, 2016)

So many years later, public signage in Motovun is all over the place. Many more cafés, restaurants, shops, and apartments for rent have come into existence in the meanwhile. And it is up to each and every owner to decide how to attract tourists’ attention. By now, the visual cacophony is no less than mesmerizing. But the same holds for all other tourist attractions in Istria, as well as elsewhere in Croatia. The only law that pertains is simple enough: the more attractive a place, the more appalling the signage. All access roads leading to most popular towns and villages are also crammed with signs of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Apparently, there are no rules and regulations pertaining to signage anywhere in the country. But I am only cajoling myself once again. Would that public signage were our main problem, indeed.