I’m back in the UK now and my last three overnight stops in Germany, Belgium and France weren’t very eventful, so this post on the journey from Sarajevo to Croatia and the glories of Pension Kezele will be the last of my 2024 summer road trip.
Getting to Croatia
The drive from Sarajevo to Croatia was fairly easy. Most of it was on toll motorways and good roads with considerate drivers. I noticed a lot of home-going German cars.
In the end, I caused the day’s only complications by taking the wrong turn at one point.
By then, I was so close to Croatia, the EU and the blessed return of free data roaming that I turned it back on so that Google maps could reroute as I coasted cluelessly down a dual carriageway. Hang the expense!
Unfortunately the data took ages to come through, so I had to pull into a service station to use their free WiFi, but I got there in the end.
Pension Kezele
As usual, I’d stuck a pin in a map to find an overnight stay that ticked all the boxes: dog-friendly and parking on offer.
The photos had looked nice on Booking.com, but the reality was positively paradisiacal after my other Balkan challenges.
A rural idyll
Pension Kezele is a family-run farm and vineyard complex set amid beautifully-tended rolling countryside.
It’s only 37 km from Zagreb airport and road access is excellent.
I stayed in a simple farm-style room with its own bathroom in the main building, but I could see bigger rustic lodges for families or friends to share.
Zero km food and wine
The pension restaurant has a simple, delicious menu and all the food and wine is local. A lot comes from the farm.
Everything is served outside on blue -chequered tablecloths under a grapevine or in the rustic farmhouse dining room
Moslavina microregion
Before dinner, I went for a wander round the farm. There’s a huge field with a children’s playground complete with iconic boulder from the Moslavačka Gora mountain range.
The mountain is the centrepiece of the nearby Moslavina microregion and the boulder is intended to promote local tourism. I certainly didn’t need any more persuasion.
Miniature livestock collection
On the other side of the complex, there’s a farm with rabbits – some lop-eared, pigs, ducks and miniature ponies.
Having been furiously warned off by a whole selection of spitting cats in Italy and Greece, Lottie was very circumspect about the bunnies, but they were happy for us to come quite close.
Farm shop
Before I left, reluctantly, in the morning, I popped into the farm shop to buy some wine, calendula and lavender oil mosquito spray. Everything was made locally from local produce.
The woman in the shop told me that the complex is the largest of its kind in Croatia, employing 37 people including a lot of family members.
Then it was time to fire up the trusty Volvo and wind my way back to the UK with just three more nights on the road…
