journeywithmadonna

……..was not one of the highlights but according to the Lonely Planet it offers a sense of the timeless grace of Istria. The pop. is just over 6000 and many were out enjoying the warm weather when we were there on a Saturday afternoon and it was special to see families playing in the little park with very high walls so the children, and others, don’t fall off the top of the hill. Buzet is really quite a maze so it’s easy to get lost and it has dubbed itself ‘the city of truffles’ and has a festival in September which marks the start of the white-truffle season. I was sorry we missed it but not so sorry once I realized that the truffles were not chocolate ones!

…….is called Hum and apparently has a permanent population of 24 and most of them were away when we visited. We did meet a few other tourists and shop keepers and it was truly quite lovely. You can do the whole town in less than 30 minutes unless of course you stop at all six of the little shops to taste the grappa, olive oil, truffles, wines and honey. Jim, who had no Croatian money on him at the time of our visit, came running in (well, kind of) to the store I was in asking me for some Croatian currency. He doesn’t shop much so I was curious as to his purchase only to find out he had read an article quite a while back about how good walnut oil was for your skin. Unbeknownst to me he had looked for it at home but couldn’t find it and I’m sure he looked outside of Tidnish! But there it was in Hum, the tiniest town in the world and tinier than Tidnish so he bought a bottle and was quite pleased that he, too, had a souvenir form Croatia. The picture is of Jim and Marilyn in Hum and the bottles to the right of them are small bottles of olive oil although they look like large bottles of wine, I think………an illusion really from the smallest town in the world.

After a great night at Stanger, and a fabulous breakfast, the owner suggested that we not pass up the opportunity to visit Ucka nature park and so glad we listened! It is known as one of Croatia’s best kept secrets(another one) and is 160 sq km and covered by beech forests as well as chestnut trees and oaks. Sheep roam the area and it’s easy to hit one, if you were so inclined, but we managed not to. Apparently golden eagles fly overhead but we didn’t see one and I am also glad to report that we didn’t see a black bear that also wander around. Once again it was a slow long drive until it felt like we came to the end of the earth to a place called Mala Ucka which is described as a half abandoned village where a few shepherds lived. Given that we only saw one person, I’m wondering if in the busy season that means there are two people living in the village. We all agreed it was worth the long slow journey on scary roads and the attached photo indicates how narrow they are and how glad we were to only see three cars on the whole trip, all of which were parked in the woods……hikers, we guessed!

The fish was delicious……..as were the array of fresh vegetables(Swiss chard, potatoes and mixed vegetables from the garden) that came with it. One dessert, which we all shared, was an array of four mini specialties from Croatia……..just enough to top off a great meal! And I haven’t yet mentioned the wine……..excellent so far and surprisingly inexpensive, but not cheap!

Leaving Zagreb wasn’t nearly as difficult as we thought given that Jim now is a lucky man! He has three GPSs, Marilyn in the back, me in the front and Ms. GPS on my lap. At times there are disagreements during which Jim does what he wants and we carry on chatting wondering why he even asks us. Other occasions there are heated discussions followed by quiet times and anyone who has ever tried to follow maps and a GPS at the same time when there is road construction, dead ends and one way streets that the GPS was unaware of can easily get my drift. On top of this I frequently ask for directions, in English, and I never have a clue what they’re saying but smile and carry on……usually the wrong way. So we drove a good bit on day three in Croatia, always off the main highway, which made for beautiful scenery but slow roads. We made it as far as Lovran which is considered to be the gem of Istria and even though it is off-season here it was very busy with lots of tourists. I cannot imagine what it would be like in July! We found a beautiful place to stay where I took this picture off our deck close to sunset. Since it was my birthday that day Jim treated Marilyn and I to dinner at the attached restaurant and the food was the best we have had since we came to Croatia. Everything from appetizers to dessert was fabulously presented and tasted the same. I will try and attach a couple of more photos.p>

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.