Grupa21_CRO

Forrest getting ready for the spring rain, in all it's glory ❤️

Samo gledamo, nema penjanja 🙈

We finally had a sunny corona free weekend that simply drags you into nature, so why waste it?
Of course we went for the best thing we could do on such a day... A hike.

But this time we decided to be a little more spontaneous. At the very beginning of trail 25, we turned onto the more attractive and thrilling but unmarked part of the trail. And we weren't wrong. The atmosphere and nature around us attracted us so we had no desire to return to the main trail

The whole part of the road is rocky with several beautiful rocks and caves such as the cave "Pečovje" which is located on the slopes of Medvednica above the village Vidovec. Here we were greeted by a surprise... a small cave hid surprise in itself; several small figurines of garden dwarfs.

In some places, a little stronger physical condition is needed, and we needed to help the dog to climb. But the overall impression is that it definitely payed off. Peace, silence, relaxing forest environment and rustling leaves, listening to nature preparing to wake up. Priceless.

Who had the privilege to visit Zir? ☺️

They say - you are not a real hiker if you have not done Premužić's trail.
Of course we are real, look at us! So we decided to check out what this is all about.

We started at 07:00 AM from Zagreb, the weather was cold and gloomy, but already in the heights the weather brightened up and we were greeted by beautiful scenes of sunny forest peaks with fog below us.
We left the vehicle in the parking lot at the foot of the mountain lodge Zavižan, and got ready for our tour.
We did the whole route slowly, enjoying the view and interesting but easy trails, admiring the furrowed rocks - traces of water in the stone (grižine) which are the most numerous karst forms on Velebit.
The trail is well marked, and although you don't have to be a professional mountaineer for it, it requires shape, because walking only through the National Park you will spend between 7 and 9 hours here.
Some may even think twice about trying to get to the Gromovača, but we managed to climb the most challenging part to get to the very top and enjoy the beautiful view of the Adriatic Sea and islands.
We were lucky that the weather was as ordered, sunny and without a wind, so we enjoyed the view and the sun here, and after a while we continued on.
We stopped at Rossi’s hut, a hikers rest area, built in 1929, made entirely of local materials, to provide shelter and protection for hikers in case of bad weather. Here we rested, had lunch and socialized with other hikers we found there.

Given the shortened day at this time of year, we continued towards our final point of the trip - to the mountain lodge Zavižan. The oldest high-altitude meteorological station in Croatia is located here. We were greeted by a beautiful sunset with a view of the islands, and the view from the terrace of the home extends to all 4 corners of the world and leaves no one indifferent.

Premužić trail is the most famous hiking trail in Croatia, passing through the peaks of the Northern and Middle Velebit. It is the pearl of pedestrian construction in this area, due to its quality of construction and integration into the environment. It is built in stone so that it leads through the most inaccessible parts.
This trail is very interesting all the way - often rocky, occasionally wooded, at times open to the blows of the wind, only to be bathed in the sun the very next moment.

How did the trail get its name?
Croatian hikers were amazed by the beauty of Velebit in the 1920s. Thanks to the dedication of Dr. Ivan Krajač, Minister of Trade and Industry of the then Kingdom of Yugoslavia, funds were provided for the creation of the trail. The trail was designed and built by Ante Premužić, a forestry engineer, passionate hiker and lover of Velebit, and since it is excellently built and blended into the environment, it has been called a masterpiece of construction, dry stone walls. In his honor, Croatian hikkers named the trail Premužić's trail.

Northern Velebit is the youngest of the Croatian national parks, and it is a real mosaic composed of various habitats that are home to many plant, fungal and animal species.
In the area of the Northern Velebit National Park, rocks of different ages can be seen, precisely because of tectonic activities. Therefore, tens of millions of years can be skipped in just one step, because one foot can be on rocks over 200 million years old, while the other can already be found on rocks that are "only" 40 million years old.
Precisely this diversity of karst forms, living world and man-made landscapes, was the reason for the proclamation of the Northern Velebit National Park. Due to its values, the Northern Velebit National Park has become part of the National Ecological Network.

Why not take the kids to the hike?

Of course there is no reason. You can start practicing trips with the youngest from an early age, and since children are much simpler than us - only motivation is enough for them. We, on the other hand, need a bit more equipment, such as spare clothes, if they accidentally step into the stream.

When I take my children somewhere in nature, I try to make the trip as interesting as possible, because for them it is nothing but pure fun and recreation. Since I didn't want to create resistance to the forest and hiking in the beginning, I tried to choose simpler and less demanding tours that would be equally attractive to them.

Medvednica is full of various trails, easier and harder ones, but of all - the most interesting and dearest to us is the one that leads to the Queen's Well (Kraljičin zdenac), and there is no need to carry the youngest member of the team who often complains.
This trail is very simple and suitable for recreational people of all ages, so you will always meet a lot of hikers along the way. What makes this trail special is the fact that this is an educational trail (also called the Miroslavec educational trail), along which there are educational boards that show the geological structure and past of Medvednica.
At the end of the trail we come to the magical Queen's Well with the stream Kraljevec and its rapids located around a wooden house that once offered refreshment, but today is unfortunately closed and decaying.

The trail was built by Count Miroslav Kulmer at the end of the 19th century for his wife Elvira's walks, so the trail was named after her. In recent times, however, the name of the path to the count - Miroslavec has become common.
The Queen's Well is actually a powerful source of drinking water from the Kraljevac stream, and it was named after the legendary unfortunate "Black Queen" (it is assumed that it was Barbara Celjska, the second wife of King Sigismund of Luxembourg).

Legends say that Barbara of Celje was beautiful, shrewd and politically powerful, but very evil and cruel. She practiced alchemy, witchcraft, and the persecution of her subordinates and her numerous lovers. She often threw lovers off the walls of her city.
According to legend she wore black, and on her neck was a black raven attacking at her request. Therefore, she was remembered by the people as the Black Queen. She allegedly died in Czech Republic, mowed down by the plague in 1451.
One summer there was a severe drought. Thirsty people desperately begged Black Queen for water from a well in Medvedgrad, but she cruelly rejected them and threw them into a forest full of angry bears. When people were already dying of thirst in the forest they found this well with cold spring water that did not exist until then. They refreshed themselves with water, and the well in Medvedgrad dried up.

This time the weather did not look promising at all, but only the toughest survive so we decided to go for a slight walk and see what happens.
We took a random trail that goes to the Risnjak lodge, but the climb was something very special.
More than half of the way a thick fog followed us, and what scary feeling it gave us 🙈. But, all of the sudden, the rays of sun began to break through the trees giving us a breathtaking view of the fog over the trees below us.
Of course, the rest in the Risnjak lodge was inevitable as well as the great strudels. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to take a lot of photos but we will correct that mistake next time. Promise :)

Last Friday morning we decided to go for a light walk around Medvednica, without any special goal other than to enjoy the beautiful colors of autumn and take some good photos.

We started with the Leustek trail, but at the very beginning we deviated a bit from the route in search of good shots, after which we returned to the right path (at the first shelter - benches with a canopy).
After some picturesque walks, apart from small resting places along the way, we came across the first real resting place called Adolfovac, which on weekends is full of mountaineers who find refreshment in sandwiches and juices and regain strength for the further journey. The rest area is located about halfway from Bliznec to Sljeme, and is very close to the Sljeme road. It was named after the Croatian politician and multiple mayor of Zagreb at the end of the 19th century, Adolf Mošinsky.

Later we turned onto trail 16 and ended up at Runolist lodge on a great cherry pie with a beautiful view. The whole walk was beautiful, we managed to catch breathtaking views, and (if we close our eyes one part of the trail where the forest was cut down and devastated to build a new ski lift), I can say that this is one of the nicer Medvednica trails I have been on.
The unplanned trip turned out to be wonderful with a special experience.
***
This trail is named Leustek's trail after Albin Leustek, who was a forester from Zagreb and greatly contributed to the arrangement of Medvednica.
Leustek's trail is a very beautiful and maintained trail, it is not demanding and the ascent is gentle and constant, so it is one of the most popular and easiest trails on Medvednica.
The markings on the trail are good and easy to see, and in several places we pass by the springs that Medvednica abounds in. In addition to the usual hiking markings, you can see some different markings here - a white cross in a yellow square - these are pilgrimage markings, since this path is followed by the Marian pilgrimage route that goes to Marija Bistrica.

Medvednica or Zagrebačka gora is a green mountain that keeps its back to our capital Zagreb. It is an extremely rare example of nature entering the capital, it is a space where natural and cultural-historical values intertwine. This large, beneficent mountain has always been a source of life and protection for the inhabitants of the city.
The surface of the mountain is forested, and in 1981 the western part of Medvednica was declared a nature park.

Man left a trace on Medvednica 45,000 years ago when Neanderthals lived in the Veternica cave. The name of the mountain preserves the memory that bears lived here in abundance, and a thousand-year-old yew tree may hide in the shade a red mushroom - the witch's heart (once witches really met here, and when they fell to the ground, a red mushroom sprang up in that place, only she could break the bold witch's heart).

The reasons for coming to Medvednica have changed over time. Once across Medvednica, Zagorje farmers carried the fruits of their labor to the Zagreb square, while today Medvednica is a resting place and a green source of strength for everyone, and especially for the residents of Zagreb.