Day 12 – To Croatia

After having breakfast and cleaning up the apartment, we set out to investigate sites of roman ruins that we had noticed on our tourist map. This tour took us through areas that were not previously covered in our walking tour through Ljubljana. The one site that was worth seeing was part of the original roman wall in the area known to be the site of roman settlement.

We then had time for last minute shopping in the market, coffee at the riverbank (note no wine this time!) and then back to collect our bags and provide a few improvement tips to our host… she took it well. From there it was a mission to the train station and to finally complete a route march to get to our platform and then we were away. The countryside continues to hold our attention (see attached video as an example – sorry about the reflection though [given up on the video - it is taking too long. K]) – and travelling by train – followed hilly valleys and rivers – it was fantastic.

We got to Dobova and our Slovenian train engine sped away into the distance. We were momentarily concerned until the train was boarded by a dozen or so official looking people asking for our passports – so we knew we were close to Croatia. Yippee – we got stamps in our passports! The train then moved into Croatia – stopped again at Savsky Marot – and we got another stamp in our passports.

The train station at Zagreb was a little daunting. It took a while for us to hook up with our contact person…(having to change money from Euro to Croatian Kuna to buy a phone card and work out the phone system did not help) but we got there OK. Nothing like a little perseverance… After a short tram trip with our guide we made it to our apartment – we were all thinking – oh my god – what is this all about. From the train station to our apartment, Zagreb is completely graffiti covered – and doesn’t look like a holiday destination. Karla was thinking – what have I done??? Neil and Sandra were certainly looking at one another.

The apartment is on the 3^rd floor on one of many dodgy looking buildings in many dodgy looking blocks – not feeling too comfortable here. On the tram trip, our guide told us how a 26 year old girl was murdered in the city about 11am yesterday by the mafia. That didn’t help either…

The apartment has two “bed” rooms (yippee for Karla who is getting a little sick of hard couches…). We then made our way to the tourist information office in the main square to sort out our itinerary for the next couple of days and on to a restaurant street for a well deserved drink (gee – it’s hard being on holiday) and then on to a fabulous little restaurant for dinner. Go for Pizzeria La Stella – and make sure you have Kruśōlōi (aka mali khuh) if you get here. The meal was definitely the best priced easy meal we have had in our entire time away to date.

Tomorrow is National Independence Day – and we intend on doing a self-guided walking tour – as everything will be shut. More on that later!