Marshal Tito and Antun Augustincic

6.25.17
Historic Citizens from the Villages of Zagorje


Because today is Sunday and a Croatian holiday, most businesses in the city are closed, so we swap our Monday itinerary - which focuses on the countryside - to Sunday so that we may be to do the city sightseeing Monday.


Our first stop, the Kumrovec ethnic village, was the birthplace of Marshal Tito, the President of the former Yugoslavia. This open-air museum focuses on traditional ways of life a century ago.  

 The barn belonging to the Tito family 

with a statue of Josip Broz Tito.

 Vlatka dons her communistic Young Pioneers uniform 

to recite the rules memorized by all youth under Tito.

Kumrovec

Karlovacko - excellent beer. Temps have been in the high 80s and low 90s 

for most of the trip so we drink beer during the day and wine in the evening. 

For the first time in many of my travels, I am almost the only one drinking red wine.

We then travel to Klanjec, a charming town with fertile wine hills,  near the border with Slovenia. This is the birthplace of renowned sculptor Antun Augustincic. One of the most important Croatian sculptors of the 20th century, Augustincic created the Peace monument, which stands in front of the United Nations building in New York City. Many of his great sculptures are on display inside and outside this Antun Augustincic Gallery. They are brilliant pieces of art, and his ability to capture facial features is amazing! (I had to create these collages because I wanted to share as many of them as possible).

The photos in this last collage are the original casts, which are stored in a separate area. Wax molds have been made of some of them, so if a sculpture needs to be replaced they are able to work with the cast.

The Bell Tower in Klanjec.

Communist dormitory.

Onto Desinic - AKA "sinful hill" - a village with approximately 4000 inhabitants in the Krapina-Zagorje County in Croatia. (So named because this was where Veronika and Fridrik met in secret).

The town is home to the legend of Veronika (Desinice) and her lover, Fridrik, who eloped to the town of Fridrihstajn, Slovenia, where they married in secret because his father, Count Herman, did not approve of the marriage. The count sent an army to bring back the lovers, but Fridrik sent Veronika away so she wouldn't be caught. He, however, was caught and imprisoned in the Celje Tower for 4 years.


Even though the courts cleared both lovers, Count Herman decided to kill Veronika by drowning her then burying her body into the wall connecting the tower to the castle entrance. Now, whenever the wind howls, you can still hear her wails.

Gresna Gorica in Zagorje is famous for its traditional recipes and modern cooking methods. This is Croatia's first registered agritourism designate. We enjoyed an absolutely delicious turkey dinner (no cranberry sauce or pumpkin pie), but lots of locally grown vegetables and wine.

Throughout the property there are miniatures
designed to reenact the legend of Veronika and Fridrik. 

                          

Velolo Tabor