Craggy Okić

Note: The time given in the information box is for the ascent by the regular walking trail, but this place is the starting point of many trails, there is a recreation area by the stream and a mountain hut, so you can easily spend a whole day here.

Almost the whole of Croatia lies at the beholder’s feet, and there are few places with so distant and so wide a prospect as this very spot, the ruins of the town of Okić.

Ivan Kukuljević, 1864

Here on the edge of the Samoborsko gorje and the “Žumberak – Samoborsko gorje” Nature Park, in a commanding position, sits the old town of Okić.

There is no other point in north-western Croatia that commands such a large area so completely. From Okić the view runs north, taking in Hrvatsko zagorje, Ivanščica and Medvednica, east across Posavina and all the way to Klek in the south-west.

The fortress owes its dominant position to the dolomite carbonate rock it stands on. Dolomite rock is far more resistant to weathering than the surrounding rock, and so it was left jutting above its surroundings. To the north and south, river erosion by two streams cut the fault deeper still, making the Okić crag more dominant yet.

Anyone used to the Dalmatian karst and its fortresses on prominent cliffs may get the initial impression that fortified Okić would not be all that hard to take. Surrounded by meadows and woods, it looks very gentle, like a hill only slightly higher than the rest. But looks deceive. As you enter the woods and climb, mostly along an easy well-trodden path, details start to emerge that would have turned taking this fortress into a nightmare for any military force. The perfect interleaving of natural rock and defensive walls, together with the dense forest, gave the defenders endless ways of making every metre of a siege a trial. Add to that the chasms of the canyons that the tireless waters of the streams have carved and the vegetation has masked, and you realise that deadly traps lurk at every step, and that a failed attack leaves very limited options for retreat.

In its second half the path becomes considerably rockier and steeper. At one point there is a branch leading to a via ferrata that is popular with hikers. Groups on the via ferrata kept coming and going throughout our visit. That southern ascent, which they now tackle in full climbing kit, was first climbed – as far as the records go – back in 1843. It was climbed by the Karlovac writer Dragojla Jarnević, and barefoot at that! An extract from her account of the feat reads:

But now we met with obstacles once more. The fearfully steep and slippery way over those stones and fallen ruins was fraught with peril, and to crawl up it was breakneck work; yet my desire to reach the summit made me scorn all danger, and I, having taken the shoes from my feet and gathered my clothing tightly about me, set myself to creep upwards like a cat – now holding to the roots that grew thereabouts, now to the crowns of the oaks, and again to the crags.

That route is now called “Dragojlina staza” (Dragojla’s path) and is known to every climber!

The remains of the fortress are overgrown with vegetation and could do with some restoration and conservation.

The view from the top is exactly as the quotation at the start of this article says – magnificent!

The first written mention of Okić dates all the way back to 1193. After Jaroslav of Okić, ownership passed around within the familiar cast – from Sigismund of Luxembourg, the Frankopans and Matthias Corvinus to the Erdődy family. There were a couple of lesser-known owners too, and in the end the fortress was destroyed in the Ottoman raids on this region. The typical fate of many Croatian fortresses. It does make you wonder how large Turkey’s war reparations for centuries of devastation across Croatia and the wider region ought to be.

The southern stream, the Okićnica, is so loud down in its gorge that we thought it must be some serious river. Drawn by the sound, we went back down to the start of the climb and took the path leading downhill to the east. When we reached the stream we could not believe that something so small and slight makes that much noise and cuts a deep canyon with such zeal (?!?).

Crossing the little bridge brings you into a beautiful forest where in several places the walking trails fork off towards destinations across the Samoborsko gorje. From there it is some 2.5 h on foot to the summit of Plešivica (779 m). As we had no plans to linger, we went down another 500 m or so, just enough to get a feel for the surroundings. Nature here is beautiful. Žumberak and Samoborsko gorje are one of the finest areas in Croatia, and we will be writing plenty more articles about it.

Finally, we should mention that we parked the car in a meadow opposite the “Dr. Maks Platnikov” mountain hut, right at the start of the trail. The meadow is private property. We met the owner, a lovely and warm-hearted person, and the parking charge really is token. To call this beautiful plot beside the stream and the woods a car park does it no justice at all, because it is a proper recreation area. The meadow is over 100 m long, with room for all sorts of sports, and it narrows and carries on into the forest. Wooden benches and tables have been set up by the stream, with a barbecue beside them, and children will be particularly delighted by the slides and other play equipment. If you want to soak up the sun in spring or autumn there are sun loungers available, so the place is ideal for a full day out, birthday parties, team building and similar activities in the open air.

For anyone who finds even a token parking charge too much, there is a very limited amount of parking on the approaches to the hut. Those ten or so spaces are certainly not enough for the number of people who come here, so the choice is either the meadow mentioned above or a longer walk in from the direction of Klake (a village above Samobor).