50 km southwest of Zagreb,the city of Karlovac was founded in 1579 to defend the southern borders of the Austrian Empire against the Ottoman Empire. In the 1990s it retained its strategic role and was the scene of bitter fighting between the armies of the Republic of Croatia and the self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina. At Turanj, just off the motorway on the road to the Plitvice National Park, a former military barracks has been transformed into a modern interactive museum about the history of the war and its impact on the city’s people. It’s well worth stopping to explore, for adults and kids alike.