Trips

Tues., 6/12/18 - Zagreb and Countryside

We traveled into the countryside this morning, going north toward the border with Slovenia. The land quickly turned very hilly with small towns and several hilltop castles.

Our first stop was in the town of Klanjec at the Antuna Augutincic Gallery. Augutincic was a famous Croatian sculptor and created many monuments for Croatia, Geneva, Ethiopia, Slovenia, the UN, etc. He primarily worked in clay, made plaster casts, and poured bronze. The gallery displayed several of his “torsos in motion,” bronze historic heads, and replicas in the garden. We also saw the warehouse where his plaster casts are stored and repairs can be made from them.

Countryside
Countryside	Sculpture by Augutincic
Sculpture by Augutincic	Sculpture by Augutincic
Sculpture by Augutincic	Sculpture by Augutincic ready for shipment
Molds in storage	Sculpture by Augutincic
Load of firewood going by	Church steeple in Klanjec
Next we toured an outdoor museum in the town of Kumrovec, where Josep Bros Tito was born. The century old village is maintained as it was more than a hundred years ago. We stood in his birth house and looked at more batons, symbols of the Yugoslav track meets he organized with opening ceremonies like at the Olympics. We wandered through the gravel “streets” and looked in at typical houses and shops for textiles, blacksmithing, toy making, a cooper, etc. It was hot and humid but was a well presented old town.
	Statue of Tito
Buildings at the open air museum	Inside one of the buildings
Weavers	Drying corn
Corn stalks	Scarecrow in the garden
General store	Farm wagon
Our big bus drove along very narrow, winding roads to lunch at “Sinful Hill” within view of a large medieval castle (Veliki Tabor Castle) that is being furnished now to open for tourists. There is the story of Frederick, a young son from the castle in love with Veronica from the poor village. The father had Veronica tried as a witch and when she was declared innocent and just in love, he had her cemented into the castle walls. During storms she moans and sobs in the castle. For lunch we ate hot turkey soup with homemade noodles. There was not a breath of air as we ate sitting outside above their vineyard. We were greeted at the restaurant with the tradition of the region - salt and cornbread and then plum brandy.
Burning the fields	Medieval Castle -Veliki Tabor Castle
	Story of Frederick and Veronica
Lunch at Gresna Gorica	Minature village
Old wine barrel	Minature village
Photos of the lovely countryside - from the bus
Hunting blind in the field
Fun!
The churches are often on the hills	The countryside was a welcome relief from the city of Zagreb and only an hour away. Traffic became bumper to bumper in the city and it is easy to understand how popular the two and three car blue trollies are for commuters. They seem to run all over the city and cost about 65¢ for a half-hour of travel.

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