Category: castlebusters

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Living Castles

There is a project called Living Castles, building a network of 7 castles in Croatia and our neighbor country Slovenia. The project is mostly funded by the European Regional Development Fund. The project partners invested in the enhancement of their heritage presentation. It’s mostly through digital technology, such as virtual reality and 3D mapping. Without a doubt, it all adds to a more spectacular experience for a visitor. What I love most is the fact that together, they’re building a network. They’re creating a route that could trigger us to visit the seven castles.

The castles included in the Living Castles network are Veliki Tabor, Oršić castle in Stubica, Čakovec and Varaždin castle in Croatia. In Slovenia, it’s  Celje, Rakičan and Ptuj castle. Learn more by listening to the podcast or continue reading:

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1StarCroatia – Castles

It seems that a lot of you are very interested in the episodes from the 1 Star Croatia series – the ones dedicated to poor reviews of Croatian sights. Some travelers are not easily fooled and their helpful reviews might save you the trouble! I do understand that people will express their disappointment if the customer experience is not perfect. But some comments are simply funny, especially if you’re critisising a 500 year-old-piece of history or a natural phenomenon. I mean, who exactly are you complaining to?

Let’s look at how people are experiencing Croatian castles. Listen to the podcast or scroll down for the rest of the article:

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Valpovo Castle – Pineapples, Dragons and Ghost Ladies

If the path takes you to Eastern Croatia, turn to the lovely town of Valpovo. The town’s biggest attraction is the Prandau-Normann castle with its park. The history of the castle starts somewhere in the 15th century. Visitors, however, get to experience a little time-travel journey that begins in the 19th century at the entrance to the park and finishes among the 15th century remainders.

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1StarCroatia – Samobor Old Town

⭐⭐⭐The view from there is nothing to write home about. ⭐⭐⭐

This time, I chose an unusually high rating: as much as three stars for the ruinous medieval town above a charming town of Samobor.

Most of the people are rather impressed with the view when they get to the fort. Not this traveller. The view is what annoyed him most. Usually, he writes about the beautiful views back home. Not this time. He expected a better reward once he climbs as much as 250 m above sea level.

To tell you the truth, most people don’t expect a grand view because the old town is not on a very high altitude and it takes you only 20 minutes to get there. We’ve never heard anyone saying: “you have the go there, the view is amazing!”. We can’t really understand where do his expectations come from…

Some people are disappointed because the monument is in a rather poor condition, others love to explore it precisely because of that. Some complain the trail is muddy, others are thrilled with a chance of a short hike straight from the city center. But once you get there, people are usually overwhelmed with a pretty view that they didn’t expect. Immediately, they realise why did they build it right there back in the 13th century: the castle is not so easy to spot, yet it overlooks the valley and beyond.

But that was not enough for our reviewer! He expected to see something other than the scenery that surrounds it. Thank you for the warning! If we decide to go to the old town of Samobor, we’re going to stay away from the view.

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1StarCroatia – Kaštel Gomilica

⭐ There is a much better fort in the area ⭐

Those 16th century Benedictines really don’t know how to make a proper fort, do they? As the review says, there are other forts in the area. Actually the whole town is called Kaštela – very similar to English word “Castles” or Forts. There are seven castles, each one a part of a small historical town, each of them centuries old. But this one, Kaštel Gomilica, is especially lame, built on a reef. Whatever. We wonder why did they choose precisely this unimpressive one to act as Braavos in Game of Thrones.