Crumbled to rubble: The Castle in the coat of grass

The Croatian coast is the California of Europe. However, those who drive the E71 from the beautiful coastal town of Rijeka down to the Albanian border will not notice much of it. Too much Autobahn, too much modernity. It is better to take the nearby R65, which runs directly along the sea like the highway 1 overseas. If she doesn't, there is always a country road just one exit away, often hardly used and with priceless views of the Adriatic Sea.

One of the old churches.

Coastline under the sun

Only those who always move along the sea get the feeling that tourists overcome who are driving along California's highway number 1. There is something to discover everywhere, there is something to see everywhere, nature and natural parks, wild cliffs, wild animals, steep slopes, lonely villages. This area, which has changed owners time and time again over the millennia, has so many stories to tell.

The grass coated castle

The coastal landscape lies in the bright sun, the sea shimmers blue to the horizon, the rocks are white and the trees are green. The old houses cling to the slopes like monkeys, while the concrete buildings that have been built in recent years are built into the mountains like fortresses.

A beach nearby

On the other hand, remnants of earlier times are still hidden here and there in the hills. Near Karlobag, a small village not far from Rijeka, a small square fortress was built in the Middle Ages right by the sea. Unlike other nearby forts that are still in use today, the 13C or 14C castle has now crumbled into a heap of stones.

The former wall of the fortress

The mountains of rubble lie on a higher plateau with a preserved defensive tower in the middle. The fortress under her coat of grass overlooks the sea from a height of 250 meters above sea level. Goats walk across the lawn. Virginia creeper climbs the walls.

The sea near the castle

Deep hole in the ground

The fortress is entirely privately owned, with an artist occupying a portion that is still standing. A chaplain and a small crew used to live here, he says, the men were constantly in the fortress and they took care of the security of the town and supervised the navigation to Pag. In the event of a siege, there was a water supply cistern, which today is just a deep hole in the ground. Party leftovers spread across the landscape. The artist next door lets the youngsters do their thing, he also likes to show tourists around his Mediterranean kava garden with an exhibition of mosaics he made himself.

"Forifica" means fortress

Kava means quarry in Croatian and this probably refers to the fact that all the stones for the paved squares and the buildings for the formerly rectangular fortress had to be hauled here from a nearby quarry. Fortica, as the Katell was called, is considered to be the fortress which, of all similar fortresses on the Adriatic, was most frequently destroyed and yet rebuilt during its active life.

The door into... nothing

Originally built in 1251, it was destroyed by the Turks, Venetians, French, Spanish and then retaken and rebuilt by the same armies. The last restoration was completed in 1825, but a short time later the fortress lost its importance, the state sold it and the decay began.

A hole is all that remains

Everything looks picturesque

200 years later there is not much left. But that looks picturesque. From up here you can look relaxed and untroubled by other tourists over the Adriatic coast to the island of Pag, west of Gospić and south of Senj. Karlobag has only 917 inhabitants, and only about half of them live in the town itself, mostly from fishing and tourism. One can go boating and hiking here, the Velebit mountain rising above Karlobag is a biosphere reserve full of rare animals, currently the only one in Croatia.

The world goes slow here

Anyone who walks through the narrow streets, which are also in the shade at midday, who climbs the steep steps that lead up to the fortress, has an idea of how much history must have happened here since Charles IV, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, founded the city in the 14th century. And for the sake of simplicity he named it after himself – he wasn't exactly modest.

Fishermens are the only moving elements

However, "Karlo", the Croatian variant of Karl, was not the first ruler to fall in love with this corner of the coast. The Roman historians Pliny and Ptolemy already mention Karlobag as "Vegia", a place that perished during the migration of peoples and was completely destroyed. It was not until the 7th century that the Croats built a new settlement, which later became known as Bag and became the seat of a noble family was.

Destroyed and rebuilded

The Turkish invasion completely changed the course of development of this town. In 1525 Karlobag was completely destroyed by the Turks, only the fortress with a small military presence survived. While Venice was considering whether to abandon the town altogether or rebuild it, the inhabitants turned to the Austrian Archduke Charles and asked to help them rebuild. "Karlo" helped and Bag became Karlobag.

The remains of a romanian castle

A little later the jealous Venetians came, they conquered the fortress and destroyed the town. The Austrians drove them out again. And during Napoleon's reign, in 1813, Karlobag was shelled by English warships for a change.

Rom is where you roam

But there is still a lot left. For example, the church of St. Charles Borromeo and the Capuchin monastery from 1713 with many old paintings, the most important cultural monument of the city. Next to the Fortica stands the baroque church of St. Charles of Borromeo, built where an older church stood before. Everything changes. Everything remains. The sea in front of the door roars. The streets are empty. The ice cream parlor is closed. It smells of sun.