The first day trip that we went on from Zagreb was to Trakošćan Castle. Trakošćan was huge, very beautiful, and had lots of cool features and ancient artifacts. The coolest feature was the monstrous turrets, which were very well preserved (not to mention how well preserved the castle itself was). Inside of the massive walls with turrets poking out of them was a remarkably well preserved (and super rusty) old stove. P.S. This stove was only one of the many artifacts found in the castle. The castle was built on a hill overlooking a crystal clear blue lake. The castle was built in the 13th century and the lake was added in the 1800’s when a dam was built further up the river (or down, I don’t know). 

After that we went to Varaždin. Varaždin is a small town not too far out of Zagreb. The coolest thing about Varaždin was the humongous castle built in the center of the city in the 14th century. This castle had something that most castles did not, a draw bridge and a separate attack building off to the side of the castle. The moat was added when the Turks tried to attack (and if there is a moat there’s almost always a draw bridge). One of the more interesting things inside the castle’s historical artifact collection were the old medieval cannons (I also learned that cannonballs were made of concrete).

Croatia has some very beautiful castles built in some of the smaller and less developed areas.