WATERMILLS AND THE WELL OF LIFE!

Our journey was taking us roughly parallel to the coast but several miles inland as we headed towards Zagreb, close to the Slovenian border.  We travelled up a lovely road across hills covered with forest and through pretty little villages.  The most interesting and unusual one was Rastoke, just outside of a slightly larger town called Slunj at the junction of the Slunčica and Korana rivers.

Rastoke was begun more than three hundred years ago when this area of pools, rapids and waterfalls formed from travertine (calcium carbonate dissolved in rains higher in the lime-stone mountains and re-deposited here) was chosen for a collection of water mills for grinding flour, clothes washing and flax-stamping. 

The mills, built out over the natural waterfalls, were connected by wooden gangways.

The water rushes under the buildings...

...and cascades out into the lower river...

 driving horizontal waterwheels like those we saw at Krka.

As we travelled we passed many war-damaged houses and even the occasional deserted village.  There were also frequent memorials to those who died in what they call here “The Homelands War” in the 1990s. This one on a lonely hillside out in the country was, perhaps, the most unusual and moving with its figures seeming to emerge from (or return into) the limestone.

We stayed at a lovely site at Belaviči – a village outside of the industrial town of Karlovac.  The lanes around the site gave us an enjoyable cycle ride and the next day we were able to take the train into Croatia’s capital city, Zagreb.  Although a typical city with sprawling suburbs, the centre of Zagreb is rather pleasant if not spectacular.  There is a fine railway station…

…and some interesting sculptures.  This is “The Well of Life”, one of several by local sculptor Ivan Meštrović.  Dating from 1912, it shows people, at various stages of life, trying to scoop water from the bowl.

We recognised much more of the northern European influence in the architecture than in other towns and cities in Croatia.  Many buildings were of the "beginning of the 20^th century" style, similar to those we had seen in cities from Berlin to Talin, with facades decorated with sculptures of muscular men and stately women.  The Cathedral, however, was unusual…

… not so much in its relatively simple design but because it is surrounded by well-preserved defensive walls built from 1512-21 when the threat from the Muslim Ottoman Empire was at its height.  Inside part of the wall are buildings like those of that period.

In a square surrounded by Government buildings is another interesting church – St Mark’s – with its colourful roof tiles depicting the coat of arms of the old Kingdom of Croatia, Slovenia and Dalmatia and that of the City of Zagreb. 

With its many restaurants spilling out into the streets, the large open air market, crowds of University students and pleasant parks, the centre of Zagreb is a vibrant and interesting place.