A Saturday drive in the woods
South of Zagreb, south of the airport, the city suddenly ends and miles and miles of tall forests and farms opens up. I took a Saturday afternoon drive with Zvonka and her dad Hrvoje down to see some of the ancient wooden houses - some built 300 years ago - in the villages south of town.
The pavement quickly ends, and potholed dirt logging roads extend to the horizon. The trees were bare this time of year, letting the blue sky show though what would otherwise be a dark canopy of hardwoods. The River Sava has been brought under control with a system of canals and levees, but steams still cross the flatlands under the trees, draining into the wide floodplain.
First stop was to visit Hrvoje's friend Zoran, a retired professor who rescued us when we broke down miles out of town in 2007.
We passed though a lot of little villages and farms, to see the old building styles in the region. The oak houses are fitted together without nails, and are obviously strong since they've survived several hundred harsh Croatian winters. We ran into another of Hrvoje's friends even deeper in the woods (Croatia's a small place...) and spent some time in his neighborhood, little fishing houses and a hunting club a few hours out of town.
