Samobor, Croatia

As we headed out of Zagreb, we felt compelled to stop in this small medieval town. Why? In preparation for this trip I had read every guidebook that the library had to offer (Rough Guide, Rick Steves, Moon Guide, Insight Guide, Fodor's, and Lonely Planet) and they all said that this is the picturesque town to visit. If I had already been to the coast, and known then what I know now (that there are plenty of picturesque towns in Croatia), we might have skipped it, but we were following the guidance of others.

The only hint that you are in a tourist area is the price of parking--it is 10 kuna an hour--the same as parking in the center of Zagreb. But we had no trouble obtaining such a parking space (no doubt the locals can ill afford the price), and we were there early enough that there were no bus loads of people to deal with. Samobor is a charming town, with the streets full of people having morning coffee at a cafe on the center square and a friednly air about it. There is a stream that runs through town with wooden bridges that span it, and stone streets throughout.

One thing that we did not manage to do, which I regret now, is to go up the hill behind Samobor to the ruin of a long gone castle. The castle was built in the 13th century and was inhabited until the late 18th century, but as of now it is a ruin, a castle without a roof, and a fine looking ruin at that. We did buy the apertif and the mustard that the town is known for, so something to remember the stop by.

One thing I did not know when I was there but have since learned is that Samobor is one of two Croatian towns involved with an energy efficiency project. The aim of the project is to implement new energy efficient ways of building construction, raise public awareness about rational energy usage, save and efficiently use energy sources and conserve the environment.
Samobor has invested in the following projects:
introduction of more efficient public lightning system
gasification - fuel change and boiler-house reconstruction
heat insulation of public buildings (improvements in windows, facades, etc.)
All of which you wouldn't guess from looking at the town--which is a wonderful message--that you can update effiency without taking away the character of the architecture.