Trakošćan Castle

This castle is one (if not) the best preserved castles in Croatia. It sits atop a hill that over looks the northern region of Croatia and a man made lake below. The castle held a lot of owners in its early years but was later acquired by the Drašković family. They were not kings or queens but simply an aristocratic family that led a good military career and was given the castle as a token of the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s appreciation.

The castle is furnished with original furniture all dating from the years in which the family occupied the castle which was about 5 centuries, though the castle and surrounding area were renovated by the D. family in the 1860.

Unfortunately we were not able to take pictures in the castle, so I will have to describe some of the greater hypes of the inside. One room held Julijana (not sure if this name is spelt right, but it is the Croatian equivalent to Juliana) Drašković’s paintings. She decorated most of the room herself and hung portraits throughout, including one self portrait of her beside a piano. On the top floor were floors by furniture period. One for baroque, classical, etc. And in each room were portraits of all the Drašković family members. Some were funnier than others, but one thing is for sure, the artist was not very good and made them all look like clowns. There was a picture of a kid and his dog and the dog had more of a human face than the kid, which gave a really creepy mood to the picture. Next to one bed was a wooden carved human head of a man cloaked in a black hood. There was a family tree that stretched from the ceiling to the floor, some had names and faces, some just names, some just faces.

We went with Nela and her boyfriend Daniel. After the castle we got ice cream and walked around the lake and then drove back to Zagreb, but not before stopping to get some pizza.

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Part of trip: Europe Trip 2

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