Varazdin and a Cabin in the Mountains

We took a trip up to Varazdin before I headed home.  This is one of my favorite places in Croatia, up near the northern border of the country (Varazdin).  On the way we stopped at a cabin that Zvonka's father built years ago to meet her sister and her husband.  It's a great cabin.  On a cold winter day it was nice to BBQ vegetables and sit by a warm, wood-burning furnace after taking a walk in the woods. 

Before lunch we climbed up the ridge behind the house, through a dense forest of beech trees, to a ridge overlooking valleys of farms and tiny villages.  Along the ridge are lines of wine houses.  These sound like a great idea!  Each of these tiny huts is located at the top of a narrow vineyard extending down the steep hill.  The bottom floor is basically a big fermenting tank, and the upper floor is a drinking room to enjoy the wine.  Grapes are harvested in the fall to provide a summer's worth of delicious homemade wine.  I'm going to have to come back here during the summer...

The next day in Varazdin we went to visit our friends Vedrana and Bruno and their little daughter Klara.  After the usual stuffing with food when we visit, Klara got her first walk around town of the year, it's been too cold to go outside until now.  I like it in Varazdin, I wish ther was a way I could live there.