(serene music) - [Jeff] Discovery is a quiet voice that whispers to each of us.

(dog barking) It's what drives us to explore.

(guitar playing) Travel isn't always easy, but the rewards can last a lifetime.

And right when you think you know a place like Europe, a new adventure changes your perspective.

It's a beautiful Sunday morning, there isn't a cloud in the sky, it's high sixties right now.

Zack, Dave, and I are just walking around the city center.

This is Zagreb, the capital of Croatia.

It's home to nearly a million people, and rich in history.

This was built a long time ago.

You ready?

- We'll get it done.

I got it.

- [Jeff] You going in?

Well, I can go on fours.

- [Jeff] Yeah, go.

Let's see what you got.

- All right, watch this.

- [Jeff] It's tight.

But a place with small town charms, and a warmth from its people you can't help but feel.

- It's Croatian factory.

It's called Ledo.

Ledo ice cream, Ledo sladoledi.

- [Jeff] It puts all other ice creams on a stick to shame.

Croatia's star attractions to the south, Dubrovnik and Split, are popular destinations to this country on the Adriatic.

But we've come here to explore the heartbeat of Croatia, and a lesser-known region to the north called Istria.

- [Man] We are just above the Mirna River Valley, which is very known for white truffles.

And obviously we are here in area that has a huge heritage in wine-making.

(wine pouring) - [Jeff] It's very fresh.

Here, rolling hills, vineyards, and hilltop towns draw us closer to the sea.

Where ancient villages still hold secrets from the past, and welcome curious travelers to a maze of cobblestone.

Top of the castle.

The top of Motovun, this historic hilltop village.

And when you get up here, you have one of the best views you're gonna get around anywhere in this area.

London, Paris, or the Italian Riviera.

All favorite European destinations for travel.

But after this one, Croatia has now firmly found a place in our hearts.

(dramatic music) When I woke up this morning, I did not think I would be standing here.

(glasses clanking) - Cheers, guys.

- Cheers!

- [Jeff] This is it.

(upbeat rock music) When you travel, the world becomes a smaller place.

When you explore with friends that share a love of photography, destinations come to life.

Are you not entertained!?

- Woo!

We tell the stories of travel with our cameras, capturing images of the most beautiful places on earth.

But every adventure reveals more than what's found in the frame.

The people, the food, and the unexpected turns that happen on every journey.

- You wanna go?

- He's going downtown on you.

Hang on a second.

Brings the full experience of travel into focus.

- [Announcer] Production funding for "Outside: Beyond the Lens" provided by: Visit Fresno County.

Nature, diversity.

Found in the heart of California's Central Valley.

From Fresno and Clovis, you can drive to three nearby national parks.

By Hedrick's Chevrolet.

- Hedrick's Chevrolet is proud to support the spirit of travel in each of us.

Every journey has a first step.

Adventures start here.

- [Announcer] By Advance Beverage Company, serving Bakersfield and Kern County for over 50 years.

From our family to yours, supporting Valley PBS and the wonders of travel.

By the Penstar Group, promoting growth and opportunity in business through collaboration and partnerships for the future.

By Hodges Electric, serving California's Central Valley for over 50 years.

Dedicated to supporting public television and the calling in all of us to explore.

And by Visit Yosemite Madera County, California's gateway to Yosemite National Park.

Explore the outdoor magic of Madera County, and be inspired to discover more.

(serene piano music) - [Jeff] Anticipation.

It's one of the biological highs that comes from traveling to somewhere new.

- [Intercom] Cabin crew, please prepare for landing.

- [Jeff] Feeling the plane descending through the clouds.

A kink in your neck forming as you strain for your first look at the unknown below.

All of it, part of the experience.

All a part of the cycles of travel that become familiar the more you explore.

(plane engine whooshing) And as the final moments of flight end, and thoughts of what adventures await race through the mind, the droning of aircraft brakes, and the sounds of phones reconnecting with the world, remind me we are strangers in a strange land once again.

(piano music continues) First light on a Sunday morning in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia.

We've come here at a time when traveling the world isn't easy, during round two of the COVID pandemic, when some countries remain locked down, as others searched for a way to find sense and survival.

Croatia is one of those places that pushed through.

(insects chirping) We were invited to come to Croatia to film by the CEO of the Croatian Tourism Board's Los Angeles office.

I had spoken to her on the phone for over a year trying to pull this trip together.

She knew we had landed and checked into the hotel she had picked out for us, but she didn't know that after a night of rest, we had set out to do what we do.

Tell the stories of a place with our cameras.

That's when the unexpected happened.

It's also why this show is titled "Beyond the Lens".

As I stood filming a downtown scene in Zagreb, I heard tires squeal in protest under the weight of a quickly stopping automobile, followed by a car horn sounding next to me.

When I turned, there was a woman in a Mercedes sedan, holding up traffic and waving to me to get in quickly.

I grabbed my gear, shrugged to a confused David Boomer nearby, and sped away into the streets slowly coming to life with our Croatian tour guide, Iva.

How she found me that day, I will never know.

Now, where did you grow up?

Did you grow up here in Zagreb?

- [Iva] I did.

- [Jeff] You did?

You're a Zagreb girl.

- [Iva] I am.

My kids are seventh generation of Zagreb.

- [Jeff] So that's how you know how to drive around here right now.

- Everyone knows how to drive around here.

(both laughing) - [Jeff] Iva had a sense of urgency about her that reflected in the speed in which she drove these narrow streets.

She lives in Los Angeles now, but grew up in this vibrant city.

- The thing about Croatia is how diverse it is.

So being such a small country and being so diverse, you know, geographically and climate-wise, is just what makes it so beautiful.

And so, you know, you can explore it again and again.

- [Jeff] Yeah, I'm seeing that just on the first little bit right out of the hotel.

My rocket-run car tour of Zagreb took me to all the good stuff quick.

It helped me get my bearings, and better understand the layout of Croatia's capital, from someone who really knew the history here.

(peaceful music) My first impressions of Zagreb are beautifully clean, with lots of smiling, happy people, and a feeling of small-town quaintness coming from a city with nearly 1 million people in it.

All set to a backdrop of contrast between cobblestone alleys, 14th century architecture, and a modern sense of flair you would find in any European capital.

And as fast and bizarre as my tour of Zagreb began, it ended abruptly, on a street random to me, luckily not far from where Zack and Dave were making their way through town.

(car drives past) Zagreb is the largest city in Croatia, where a quarter of the entire population of this country lives.

The oldest settlement here dates back to the first century A.D., and today is home to world class museums, sporting events, a booming high tech industry, and people that are welcoming and friendly.

Our walk north is leading us to one of the main gathering centers in Zagreb, at Ban Jelacic Square, the true hub of the city.

(distant footsteps and people chattering) On weekends, the square is alive with activity, buzzing with markets of fresh flowers and locally grown produce.

Zagreb is a very easy city to move around in, and most everyone spoke English beautifully with us.

As we settle into the pace and vibe of Zagreb, I begin to notice something else you see in towns much smaller than this.

A real sense of community.

There's something about the human interaction that takes place in a market like this.

Two people interacting with one another in a way that seems to be fading in our "add-to-cart, buy-it-now" world.

It's a place where crime is extremely low, children walk to school safe, and where the people in this village of 800,000 actually care about and look after one another.

Okay, well this is our first full day in Zagreb, and...

It's good.

It's a beautiful Sunday morning, there isn't a cloud in the sky, it's high sixties right now.

Zack, Dave, and I are just walking around the city center, the main square area, the cathedral behind us, the farmers' market going on in the morning down here.

Everything you think you're gonna see when you come to one of these great European capitals like Zagreb, it's here, in living color, and we're enjoying it.

It's just beautiful.

(water pouring) The Zagreb Cathedral is a place that deserves a little extra time to visit.

This Gothic-style Roman Catholic church is not only the second tallest building in all of Croatia, it's one of the oldest cathedrals in Southern Europe.

Construction on the original building was completed in 1217.

Like many of Europe's religious centers, it was a focus of invasions, battles, and of healing.

And today, the ancient remains of the wall that was built around the cathedral to slow an invading army of the Ottoman Empire in the late 15th century, still stands in remarkable condition.

(footsteps on stone) Our journey through Zagreb is now leading uphill, where stairs and tunnels take us into the Gradec area, the upper town, or "Old Zagreb".

Here, St. Mark's Square is a popular tourist area, and is home to a group of buildings that make up Croatia government, including the parliament, the Constitutional Court of Croatia, and the colorful roof tiles of St. Mark's Church, built in the 13th century.

(guitar playing) The upper town of Zagreb is also home to another important landmark, Lotrscak Tower.

It was built to look over the old walled sections of Zagreb in the 13th century, as a defensive observation point for lookouts.

In the 1800s, a cannon was added to the top of the tower, that would fire off every day at noon (distant cannon firing) to signal the church bell ringers in Zagreb to do their thing.

The tradition of the cannon fire at noon continues today, scattering pigeons and shocking tourists every midday, and is the main reason we found our way up here.

But upon arrival at the tower, we learned that the cannon was damaged in the 2020 earthquake, and hadn't been fired since.

A disappointment, short-lived, after seeing what else our climb to Gradec would offer.

(serene music) From this vantage point, excellent views of Zagreb below are found, and on a warm fall day like this, it's also a place to find a nice shady spot to cool off.

Dave, what are you thinking right now?

Pretty good, huh?

- This place is so cool.

- Yeah, so, we just took to finish the hike up to where they were gonna shoot the cannon, but they don't shoot the cannon anymore.

They had a big earthquake here, and so it toppled a lot of the structures, like the cathedral we saw.

You can tell some of the taller buildings have damage, but that cannon apparently was damaged somehow too.

So Zack is still somewhere shooting.

I don't know if he's got the memo that the cannon isn't working yet.

David and I are on the promenade just above the town here, about to hike back down to the hotel, having a delicious cold beer, and enjoying the shade.

- After walking the town.

- [Jeff] After a walk in the town.

After Zack finally caught up with us, we hit the Zagreb Funicular, touted as the shortest public transportation in the world, to lower us back into the town center.

Iva sent a text to meet her back at the Esplanade Hotel.

She wanted us all to jump in the car with her this time for another surprise she had planned.

(serene music continues) She whisked us through Zagreb on back roads and side alleys, pointing to noteworthy landmarks and buildings along the way.

Our rapid tour of the outskirts of Croatia's capital ended at Park Maksimir, home of the Zagreb Zoo.

This is the largest park in Zagreb, and on a picture perfect day like today, it's a great way for us to capture images of everyday life of Croatians enjoying the beauty of the place they call home.

Maksimir Park was founded in 1787, and was the first large public park in southeastern Europe.

Its 780 acres of woodlands, open grass areas, and ponds, make it an outdoor escape for Croatian families, conveniently located right in the middle of Zagreb.

(people chatting distantly) This is about the time of day I need to really pay attention to Zack.

Even though it's only been a few hours since he last ate, as the day wears on, he usually needs a little boost to get him through.

Luckily, Iva knew right where to go.

Well, at the Park Maksimir, there's this awesome ice cream stand, which we just got some awesome ice cream from.

Here's the choices we had right here.

So, I went with the Lino Lada, and you went with the-- - I went with this one, the Kapri.

- [Jeff] The Kapri.

And it's good.

You gave me a little bite, it was tasty.

- It's delicious.

- [Jeff] It's delicious.

But David, let's go see David and Zack, 'cause now they're over here.

Lookit, they're over here just standing here, just chowing down.

- Just killin' it.

- [Jeff] What'd you think?

What did you think of the-- - It's rich.

- [Jeff] To me, it's the best ice cream on a stick I've ever had.

I've never had ice cream on a stick that good.

- [David] That's fair to say.

- It is.

What'd you think, Dave?

He got the... - No, it's really good.

It's the best ice cream we've had since the chow wagon.

- It's called Ledo.

Ledo ice cream.

Ledo sladoledi.

- Do they have a bear as a mascot?

- Uh-huh.

- Okay.

- [Jeff] They do.

Nice pull, Zack.

Well, thank you.

That was awesome.

That's really, really fantastic ice cream.

- [David] Very, very good.

- It puts all other ice creams on a stick to shame.

The last stop on our tour of Zagreb is a visit to one of the most noteworthy landmarks, the Mirogoj Cemetery.

(serene music) Here, people of all religious backgrounds are put to rest.

Interred on the hillside of this remarkable setting, owned by the city of Zagreb and not the church.

The walls and arcades of the cemetery built in 1879 give Mirogoj a stately architectural presence, framing a wide expanse of crypts, graves, and tombs.

This was a solemn, yet reflective and fitting way to end our whirlwind first full day in Zagreb.

Tomorrow, we will leave this place, and head west toward the ocean for a two-hour drive into a region of Croatia called Istria.

Our second full day in Croatia, and Zack, Dave and I, somewhere between Zagreb and the oceanside town of Opatija, have lost Iva, who is driving her own car kind of fast.

A text message from Iva simply gave us the name of a town, and a brief note about how she would meet us there.

We punched the town name into the phone, and followed the directions blindly through the hill country of Istria, a part of Croatia's northern area that is very reminiscent of Italy's Tuscany region across the Adriatic Sea.

After passing through roadside villages and rolling vineyards, we get our first look at the place Iva has brought us to, the ancient hilltop town of Motovun.

From this overlook, Motovun is like a painting.

Soft morning light, broken by retreating clouds of a passing storm, a setting beautifully perfect in every way.

Once again, Iva magically appears while we're focused on the scenery, like she's been there all along, ready to show us the path to Motovun.

Sometimes when I get in places like this, I love the quiet time found on a solo walk.

The ancient cobblestone streets leading to the village above.

Hello!

And the stunning views from hillside markets on the way made for a memorable photo stroll through Motovun.

Today, 531 people call Motovun home, living in houses scattered across the hillside, and within the walls of the castle up higher that was built after the Venetians took it over in 1278.

(car driving past) Motovun was the birthplace of race car driver Mario Andretti and his twin brother Aldo, in 1940.

The Andretti brothers raced wooden carts down these narrow streets as boys.

Zack, Dave, and Iva have been up at the castle for a while now, and as I climb closer to the top, the views of Istria below set against shops selling olive oil, truffles, and craft wine, continue to amaze.

Now on top, I've caught up with the boys, who have been shooting this magical place called Motovun.

From the town square, to the inside of Motovun's historic St. Stephen's Church, we have to remind ourselves this is a real place where people actually live, who may also be the luckiest people on Earth.

- [David] All right, good luck.

- [Jeff] I wanna get Zack walking in here.

This is gonna be hilarious, 'cause Zack's a tall drink of water, and this was built a long time ago.

- We'll get it done.

- [Jeff] You ready?

- We'll get it done.

I got it.

- [Jeff] You going in?

- Okay, wait up, okay.

Well, I can go on fours.

- [Jeff] Yeah, go.

Let's see what you got.

- All right, watch this.

- [Jeff] It's tight.

- [David] That is tight.

- [Jeff] Yeah.

- I don't know if I'm gonna fit in here, to be honest with you.

- [Jeff] The last thing to see in Motovun is the view from the top of the bell tower.

For a few extra kuna, we start to climb up a narrow staircase and ladders, toward the high point of Motovun.

This is about a six-story climb, and at the top, it does get a little sketchy.

- [Zack] You're in better shape than I thought you'd be.

- Really?

- [Zack] (laughs) - [Jeff] No, that's not for the faint of heart, coming up here.

And I'm gonna set my camera right here.

This is sturdy metal.

Okay, we are at the top of the castello, the castle on top of Motovun.

- [David] This is wild.

- [Jeff] When I woke up this morning, I did not think I would be standing here.

And that's one of the things that's awesome about travel, right?

You don't know what's gonna happen in the day.

Dave still wants to go higher.

- [David] I wanna ring the bell.

- (laughs) This is awesome.

(serene music) The views in every direction are some of the best we will have on this entire trip.

- [Jeff] Dude.

- Is this amazing or what?

- [Jeff] (laughs) What do you think, buddy?

- Oh man.

- Whoa man.

Look at the village from here down below.

I mean...

It's really something else.

(serene music swells) The rich history of the place we now stand is not only seen, but felt.

- [Jeff] Zackariah.

- [Zack] Dude.

- [Jeff] What do you think?

Yeah?

- [Zack] It's got a view.

- [Jeff] Yeah, not bad.

Not bad at all.

The walls of the castle below, the village below that.

The history here built in the 12th century.

Motovun today is still...

It has that old charm it'll never lose, and a great way to look back in time and be a part of living history when you come here.

- I wonder what Daniel Chui would say?

- [Jeff] (laughs) (serene music continues) Top of the castle, the top of Motovun.

This historic hilltop village, in the Istria district of Croatia.

And when you get up here, you have one of the best views you're gonna get around anywhere in this area.

The wine country below, the history here, the history you can touch.

What an experience, what a place to come.

(serene music continues) Croatia has exceeded every expectation we had before coming here.

And while most tourists visit the cities of Split and Dubrovnik, made famous as the location of the Red Keep in the "Game of Thrones" television series, the Istria region of Croatia, in the north, has put us under its spell.

A spell now broken with a new text message from Iva, who has already left for our next stop on this adventure.

She's on her way to a town called Pula, on the shores of the Adriatic, a place we are headed next.

(serene music swells) - [Announcer] Production funding for "Outside: Beyond the Lens" provided by: Visit Fresno County.

Nature, diversity.

Found in the heart of California's Central Valley.

From Fresno and Clovis, you can drive to three nearby national parks.

By Hedrick's Chevrolet.

- Hedrick's Chevrolet is proud to support the spirit of travel in each of us.

Every journey has a first step.

Adventures start here.

- [Announcer] By Advance Beverage Company, serving Bakersfield and Kern County for over 50 years.

From our family to yours, supporting Valley PBS and the wonders of travel.

By the Penstar Group, promoting growth and opportunity in business through collaboration and partnerships for the future.

By Hodges Electric, serving California Central Valley for over 50 years.

Dedicated to supporting public television and the calling in all of us to explore.

And by Visit Yosemite Madera County, California's gateway to Yosemite National Park.

Explore the outdoor magic of Madera County and be inspired to discover more.

(upbeat jingle)