If you would like to explore the surroundings of Rovinj and you have chosen St Thomas trail, get your bicycle ready at the starting line near the natural marsh M. Piliš. The marsh Piliš called also Lamadapili belongs to an extremely complex and sophisticated water system which will be of special interest to all nature lovers since it abounds with multiple specimens of typical marshy vegetation (bull-rush with large leafs, common marshy rush, various reeds, common sorrel, bedstraw) and specimens from the animal world (various frogs e.g. tree-frogs, toads, reptiles e.g. ringed snake, dragon-fly and wading birds). When you pass near Concetta along the railway line the trail brings you to the church of St Thomas from the 8th - 9th century with the cross-shaped layout and the belfry built subsequently on the northern side, a nice example of architecture from the Carolingian period in Istria. Some recent excavations in the church revealed several dozens of fragments of the pre-Romanesque architectural plastic art and many pieces of sacral furniture (fragments of screens, altar sides, altar pillars, columns with capitals). Continuing along the trail you will find the remains of another sacral place, the Romanesque church of St Proto, situated at the bottom of the western side of the homonymous hill which distinguishes itself from other churches in the surroundings of Rovinj from that period by its height and monumentality. The final stop of the trail of St Thomas awaits you in Rovinjsko selo, a village 7 km northwest of Rovinj founded in the year 1526 by the refugees from the surroundings of Zadar who were escaping from the advancement of the Turks.
Source: istria-bike.com