Our guide picked us up from the hotel and we headed out to the town of Varazdin. Varazdin is known as Croatia’s “Baroque Capital” and “Little Vienna”. It briefly served as the nation’s capital from 1767 to 1776 but lost the title to Zagreb after a devastating city fire that started at the blacksmiths shop – which ironically still stands.

We started at The Church of St. Nicholas, which is dedicated to the city’s patron saint. Located right in the central square it stands out as a striking blend of a soaring Gothic bell tower and a harmonious Late Baroque church body. The original sacred site dates back to a 12th-century Romanesque church (originally dedicated to St. Wenceslas). However between 1753 and 1761, local builders Matthias Mayerhoffer and Johannes Adamus Poch completely rebuilt the main structure into the light-gray Baroque style seen today. Built into the tower wall just above the city’s 1464 coat of arms is a mysterious, ancient stone sculpture of a mother bear.

We walked past “Angel Alley” which is locally known as Anđelinjak (the “Angels’ Nest” or “Angels’ Place”) and is a whimsical street art installation that forms a core part of Varaždin’s identity as the “city where angels sleep”. We also saw the statue of Gregory of Nin, a medieval Croatian bishop and was the first to introduce Slavonic language into religious services – and thereby making Christianity accessible to common people. Thomas rubbed his feet as that is meant to bring good luck. We also saw a statue of Queen Elizabeth (Sisi) who we had learnt about in Vienna. As Croatia was part of the Hungarian/Austrian empire they had the same ruler – however had very differing views on the monarchs.

Finally, we walked to Varaždin Castle, known locally as Stari Grad (Old Town), which is a medieval fortress located on the northwestern edge of Varaždin’s historic core. It served as a fort and even had a moat (not operational) around it.

We walked back to the town square and sat down for a morning tea break. Apparently in the 17th century the locals couldn’t read or write and hence shops had motifs on top of their doors to identify what they sold. A turtle for groceries, a mermaid for imported goods and a knight for homewares – and some shops still showcase this in the town.

We then got in the car and headed to the Trakoscan Castle which dates back to the 13th century and is one of the best preserved in the country. Unfortunately it was closed for repairs to the gangplank and we had to change plans and we visited the Neanderthal Museum instead. Croatia is famous for having more museums per Capita than any other country in the world. The Krapina Neanderthal  Museum is situated near the significant archaeological site where remains were first discovered. The site was discovered in 1899 and excavations have yielded the largest and richest collection of remains ever found in one place, dating back over 125,000 years. We spent a couple of hours walking through and incredibly rich display. The highlight was the 24 hour clock showing earths creation and the arrival of humans on the planet in the last 20 seconds. The kids loved re-enacting some of the homo-sapiens displayed in the museum.

For dinner our guide had recommended a local restaurant that had existed for over a 100 years serving local specialties. On the way there we found an entrance to a long tunnel carved into the hillside so entered to find out more. It was the Gcic Tunnel which was originally constructed by the government during WWII as an air-raid shelter. The tunnel is over 350 mts long and was left in disrepair since the 50’s. Later in the 20th century it was used for rave parties, but then was used as a bomb shelter again during the Serbian/Bosnian/Croatian war in the 90s. It was cleaned and fixed up early this century and reopened to the public in 2016 and now serves as a pedestrian through fair and occasional exhibition space. The restaurant we visited for dinner was fantastic and we had the traditional Croatian stew which includes 4 different meats and is shared.

We have an early start tomorrow with our guide picking us up at 6 in the morning so we were all packed and looking forward to an early night. However, there was a function in the grounds of our hotel with a live band which was so loud that our beds shook. They performed till 11pm when we finally had some peace and quiet.