Karlovac is a city and municipality in centralCroatia. According to theNational censusheld in 2011 population of the settlementof Karlovac was 55,705. Karlovac is the administrative centre ofKarlovac County. The city is located on theZagreb-Rijekahighway andrailwayline, 56 kilometres (35 miles) south-west of Zagreb and 130km (81 miles) from Rijeka.
Croatians know Karlovac asgrad parkova(the city of parks) andgrad na četiri rijeke(the town on four rivers) for its numerous green areas and four rivers, of whichMrežnica,Korana, andKupaflow through built-up areas, andDobrais a few kilometers outside the city centre. Adocumentary filmmade byDušan Vukotićin 1979 on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the founding of the city plays much on that theme, and shows pictures of happy bathers on the Korana's Fogina beach (Foginovo kupalište) in the city centre.
One of the rarer trees found in the parks is theGinkgo biloba, which localprimary schoolchildren are taken out to see as part of their classes on nature and society. Most of the parks are planted in the former trenches dug around the old military fort that were once filled with water as an added layer of protection from the marauding Ottoman armies. One part of the city centre maintains the name of Šanac ('trench') after the old trenches which preserve the old hexagonal form of the historic centre.
