Our First Trip to Mrkopalj!

May 15th...We left early and drove, amid dark clouds, heavy rain, and blustery winds, two and one half hours to the small mountain Croatian village where the Crnich family have lived for at least 300 years.  Emotion and excitement continued to grow as we turned off the interstate and drove up into the mountains along a windy, one and a half lane road that became narrower at several locations.  We had thought all along that Mrkopalj was relatively flat as we had viewed it on Google Earth maps...not so.  It is nestled in a small scooped out valley surrounded by steep mountains covered in trees sloping into grassy pastures and I am sure a lot of snow in the winter time.  Along the road, trees and foliage were richly decorated in multiple hues of greens and browns.  We drove through several small villages each one filled with character and traditionally built homes.  We noticed, however, that the roofs were quite a bit steeper here than in Varazdin and Zagreb.  The roofs were also covered in red metal sheeting strips instead of the common red tiles seen in most of the other parts of Croatia,  suggesting it is probably a very snowy region of Croatia.







Across the small valley ascending up the mountain side to a tiny building on top, were two rows of distinctively tall

pine trees that outlined the local ski lift.  There were sheep flocks grazing on several area pastures as we drove along.  The rains had somewhat subsided as we rounded the final bends and viewed the ancestral valley.   It was almost magical. 







We stopped on the steep grade of a road descending into the valley by the 'Welcome to Mrkopalj' to take a selfie picture with the sign in the background.  The actual task was much more difficult that it appeared as the slope off the roadway was a sheer drop-off and what appeared as a semi-flat area in front of the sign was only a normal 10% grade off the hill.  We both almost kept going down the hill but somehow recovered to snap a couple pictures.
The large wooden sign had a crest of the city painted on it with a picture of sheep and timber in the upper right had portion.  Gotta love it! 

The final few bends in the road allowed us to see the village ahead of us.  Yes, as we had suspected, a simple one lane road straight through the valley with homes hugging the narrow strip of asphalt like they might be swallowed up by all the green pastures surrounding them on each side of the community.

Of course there were a variety of ages of structures, all constructed with the usual brick and mortar materials seen through-out the region.  Some were gorgeous wooden structures, very uncommon to the eye and obviously built recently with lots of affluence abounding.  Others were old and a bit saggy, with character flowing in abundance.  We looked carefully at each one as we snail paced down into town.  We passed one turn in the middle of town. 





It was very quiet.  I think we only saw one person walking along in the middle of the road as we worked our way to our ultimate destination which was clearly seen from the top of the hill..... the church and its adjoining cemetery.  A tiny driveway lead to the cemetery, just prior to our reaching the church.  A car was just pulling out as we desired to make our turn into the parking area, leaving us as the only ones in this sacred place.  The rain had stopped.  A cool breezed was caressing the mountain slopes and made for a chilly walk to the lines of graves.








It was very humbling to see all the family names on numerous headstones that we had heretofore only seen in the record books.  We each took one half of the cemetery as the path to the church on the top of a slight hill was dissecting the many headstone in approximately half.  With cameras in hand we started our ultimate goal .... finding ancestors place of final rest.  The graves were most ornate and uniform in their display.  They were for the most part all a dark polished granite. Beautiful and very well organized. 

The breeze was gusty.  Occasionally some large dew drops from heaven would trickle down on us, but nothing to worry about.  It was almost refreshing.  We finished up all our family names and the sun was almost thinking about popping out.  We walked around the church, enjoyed the beautiful views, went into the chapel to see the ornate decorations, and walked about the street in front of the church for the overall look of the place.  It was just an awesome day.

As we were driving out of town, we did a tour of the sleepy village.  There was a tourist office in the middle of town.  We stopped in and visited a cute resident girl named "Anna".  She was very helpful and amiable.  The office as about 110 degrees Fahrenheit.  We were glad to get out into the mountain breeze coming off the mountains.  The trip home was rather somber as we reflected on our wonderful day in the village.  The rains started again as we climbed out of the valley.  Heavy wind and rain pelted our vehicle as we worked our way back to the big city and stopped at Burger King for a greasy stomach bomb.  It was a very peaceful, special day and we look forward to returning for some local resident interactions and to search out the family home.

                                            We will be returning!!!