2 days in Zagreb

Well campers we left Plitvice Lakes and travelled onward to Zagreb as we near the end of our Croatian sojourn.The weather was pretty good the scenery so different to what we had been used to on the coast. 

We called into a couple of the towns on route, but really there was nothing to interest to us, and in all fairness to this part of Croatia we were probably nearing our driving limit...

Now this is a crap photo I know but I was leaning over Greg as he held onto the steering wheel Once we were on the expressway. Yes that needle is pointing to 140 about as fast as the hire car could go! By the way, plenty passed us like we were standing still. Now we have reached Zagreb in record time, I tell you my Audi is looking promising after Greg watched about 30 of them pass us. (fingers crossed)

We navigated through the city streets looking for a hotel for our final 2 nights. They have trams in Zagreb, but unlike in Melbourne you don't turn left from the right lane, you just drive in front of them, on the tracks.

The blue thing is the tram and it's stuck in traffic, just like everyone else!

We found a lovely quirky hotel on Ilica street, it's the most famous street in Zagreb and booked in with an extremely flamboyant host. The hotel, the Ilica! This is the view from our room. (up till now we have been very lucky with views from our accomodation)

 

We unpacked and set off on a self guided walking tour of the upper city. First impressions were underwhelming. The city is the capital and as such commands the largest population, so with that comes more rubbish, pollution etc. I am happy to say that as we walked around, particularly the next day our impressions improved.

A funicular!

 

The chains from Nelson's ship - Victory, from the battle of trafalgar. And we still have no idea why they are here.

The lion is also off victory

St marks, the tiles one the roof were done as the Croatian flag.

And Greg just can't seem to get away from those pesky police, he is wishing the nsw police provided this type of vehicle at least for inspectors.😱

Some of the official government buildings

 

 

 

 

The previous photos are all of the walls around the main cathedral in the old part of zagreb, lots of nuns in Croatia.

 

We found the woman with bucket on head.....this is the entrance to the farmers market.

Just one of the lovely decrepit buildings

That was the end of a day of walking up hills and down dale, I did mention this was the upper old town didn't I?

We went out to dinner at a lovely little French restaurant run by a French guy and his French wife with their 2 French daughters.... That's right not a word of English but that's ok, no Croatian either. They were so lovely they went off to find a friend who could translate the French menu. Maz you would love the food here.. They served Greg a belgian beer and me a French wine from their friends vineyard. The food was exquisite and the service impeccable. My review for chez Bardot is already up on trip advisor. By far the best food in Croatia (not a bloody chicken or veal schnitzel, pizza or squids in sight!)

Day 2 - Zagreb

A walking tour of the lower town, yep the flat part! Let's start with what everyone needs in their diet

Yep a chocolate kebab! What the? way too early in the morning for this!

Let's move onto some culture shall we?

 

The oldest fountain in Zagreb

 

Same park, this is the meteorological centre, where they take their readings of barometric pressure, temperature, time etc! Aha you didn't think I knew these things.

 

Kath, Carmel and Donna, thought you might like to employ this idea on your next school excursion!

 

For Joe, his mighty St George slaying the dragon.

For my work colleagues I think that's our CEO on the horse!

And that brings us to dinner again, we ventured out on foot of course to find somewhere out of the way to eat, after last night we were excited and looking for similar quality. We stumbled onto a truly local pizza restaurant in the suburbs. For the shire people of old think Roberto's. They also could not speak English very unusual for Croatians, the food spoke for them and my pasta and Greg's lasagne were wonderful. Oliva was the name of this little gem. Cheap as.

 

And so we move onto Turkey and Istanbul the view from our room is the Blue Mosque and this city is showing a lot of promise.......I'll be back soon with more adventures.