Built 1025

Well it didn’t take us too long to find our air BnB apartment(at least that’s what we’re telling you) and we were thrilled to find this neat little two bedroom, spotless condo. The young owners and their two little children lived upstairs, spoke excellent English, and were happy to greet us and then leave us alone…….which was exactly what we needed as we were all pooped. We went to a neighbourhood cafe for a bite to eat, good but not great, although the owners were really trying to please us and that really made a good first impression. We all crashed by 8pm and there wasn’t a sound in the quiet neighbourhood until 8a.m. the next morning so we all had a half decent sleep which made up for the night we missed. Our landlady told us it wasn’t worth taking the car to downtown Zagreb because parking was not only a nightmare but also expensive so we listened and took the tram four minutes away. That little trip started with a bang, literally, because as we were running to catch it people were running in our direction. I obviously had this look of “what the hell” on my face as this younger lady, about my age, stopped and started talking very fast in Croatian with her hands on her heart. It didn’t take long before she realized I didn’t speak the language and she then pointed down the street to the tram. It had been hit by a transport truck which, of course caused everyone on and around the tram to run in our direction…….glad we missed it! After that little episode we decided to walk given that we had no other agenda other than to see the city and get some exercise. So we walked for six hours, sometimes fast and sometimes slow, and along the way saw the city sites, drank some great coffee and had a good lunch. Zagreb was much more than I expected….and then I asked myself “what did you expect?” The truth is that all I know of Croatia was it’s war torn history from 20-25 years ago, and before, and more recently hearing travellers speak of its beauty…so I wasn’t truly sure what to expect! Zagreb has an unbelievable history which I will not repeat here because I know if you’re interested you can google it. It is the capital of Croatia with a population of almost 800,000 and is the cultural, economic, political and administrative centre of the Republic of Croatia. It is home to the Croatian parliament, government and President. Almost a quarter of the population of Croatia live in Zagreb and it is known for its lounge culture. It has been described as a city with the biggest lounge and as we strolled around on Wednesday mid-day this was very evident. There were many, many, many lounge area/coffee bars where the citizens of Zagreb were just sitting enjoying a coffee and spending time with friends. It has been said that the Moment the sun appears in the sky in spring, restaurant, cafe and coffeehouse terraces open for customers. This was certainly the case the day we were touring the city and we kept saying these people seem to be so relaxed! Hard to believe that it was not that long ago that they were being bombed…….thank God those days seem to be behind them. After spending the entire day in downtown Zagreb we decided to take the tram back to our BnB where we had a quick nap, showers, a glass of wine and talked to Marija(landlady) about where to go for some authentic Croatian food. Without a blink she referred us to a neighbourhood restaurant known for its authenticity so off we went. We were so looking forward to trying good Croatian food especially all the fresh vegetables we had seen in the market that day. We looked over the menu, talked to the one waitress who had a half decent command of English informing her we wanted authentic Croatian food and eagerly awaited it’s arrival. Not too long after she brought out a huge platter of meat which consisted mainly of pork loins stuffed with cheese and ham I believe and ground beef sausages…..NOT A VEGETABLE TO BE SEEN! We then quickly ordered a salad and tried to order red peppers only to be told there were none. She laughed and to our surprise said “Croatians are big meat eaters” and when we queried about all the wonderful vegetables we had seen at the market she laughed again, shrugged her shoulders and said “Croatians are big meat eaters”. I guess what this really means is that we had a very authentic Croatian meal and better start paying attention to our phrase book, especially the ‘eating out’ section. So off we go for the short walk home on this beautiful day in Zagreb, thankful for arriving safely and healthy to wonderful accommodations and very full bellies and hopeful that we will get a half decent sleep before we head out in the morning for the next leg of our journey. Touch base again soon and take care.