Walking around Samobor Town

Friday 27/01/17  Photos of our walk around the town of Samobor.

Samobor is a town 25 km away from Zagreb.  It is one of the oldest and most popular excursion destinations for residents in the capital, hikers and tourists.

We managed to collect some brochures from Samobor Tourist Board.



According to the brochure there are 19,000 inhabitants in Samobor.  We do not see many people walking around though.  Are they all still working?  Maybe it is winter time.



What is a Flying Dutchman doing here?







St Anastasia's Church.



Gradna Creek







Bridge over Gradna Creek.



The statue of the first and so far the only honorary mayor of Samobor, Ivica Sudnik, is installed in front of Samobor Museum.  There is a video of what is in the musuem at this link.



King Tomislav Square, the administrative, governing and cultural center of the town.  It is also the marketplace, where festivities, church feasts, political meetings, etc, are held on a daily, weekly or annual basis.

You can drink tap spring water from a bricked up well in its centre of the square.



Sections have been cordoned off with barricades as the ice has not melted off the square.



Umbrella folded up and kept aside when food are not served outside the restaurants during winter.



A sign showing how to get to Grgos Cave.



Overall this looks like a nice place to walk or cycle through.

Our lunch at tavern, "Kod špilje"

The tavern, "Kod špilje", where we will have our home cooked meal.



At the entrance to tavern, "Kod špilje".





A full view of tavern, "Kod špilje" taken off their website.

During the summer time, you can sit outside the restaurant under this shady tree to eat.

We really enjoyed our home cooked lunch at the tavern, "Kod špilje".





Our lunch started with soup served with bread.  This is my first taste of Croatian pumpkin soup which made me yearn for it at other destinations.





Followed by salad and a choice of grilled fish or...



...or meat.



There is a signboard that says it is closed on Mondays.

Samoborska Kremsnita

You can't leave Samobor without trying out its 'Kremsnita’, an egg custard with puff pastry cake, a dessert which is popular in several Central European countries.



It is available at U Prolazu (Passing By) Cafe and Bar, located on the main Samobor square.  They are renowned for their Samobor kremšnita.



This is how it looks.



Waiting to be served our coffee and popular dessert.



Do we like it?  The puff pastry is soft and it is not too sweet.



I still prefer our crusty local egg tart.

Inside Grgos Cave

Friday 27/01/17 Getting ready to enter the cave.



It is dark and cold in the cave.  It was alright for us as we were properly dressed for winter.  Visitors dressed for summer will find it very chilly inside.



Though lighting were installed, it cannot be too bright to prevent algae from growing.









Sometimes we have to bend over to move forward as the passage is narrower.



We must be careful as we move along the cave route to avoid damaging any of the formation that have been created for over thousands of years.







You can see that one of the stalactites has been broken in this photo.



Luckily we could make use of our handphone light when the torch light ran out of battery.

There is an outlet in the roof of the cave.

More photos of Grgos Cave can be view from their website.

Visit to Grgos Cave

Friday 27/01/17 - Part of our Samobor & Food Wine Tour journey

Mladen drove us to Otrusevec to visit the Grgos Cave and to share its history.



Josip Grgos discovered the cave in 1973 when he blasted his land to mine lime rocks.   Now life is more pleasant and less dangerous for Grgos and his family as they can make a living by opening up the cave to tourists and serving home cooked food in their tavern, "Kod špilje".  That is where we had our lunch.



A photo of Mr Grgos and my family taken at entrance to the cave.



Visitors to the cave are given a booklet in English about Grgos Cave.



Map of the underground cave route.



We almost could not get in to view the cave as it was winter and the door was frozen shut.  The owner had to pour hot water to melt away the ice to dislodge it.