Single Sleeper
The sleeper train was pretty comfortable, especially as I’d booked a single sleeper to myself. Since it was close to midnight when I finally clambered on board, I went to sleep pretty quickly, despite the rocking of the train.
Crossing the border
I awoke to sunlight in Slovenia, and was breakfasted and dressed by the time we stopped at the border of Croatia (it helped that the train was almost an hour late by this time).
Zagreb main square
Zagreb was bright and cheery by the time we arrived, and I dragged my luggage along to the Esplanade Hotel just up from the train station. It has a glamorous history – it was the hotel the Orient Express passengers stayed at on this leg of their journey, so I definitely wanted to see what it was like. Pretty luxe, and even better, they let me check in early!
The cathedral
After freshening up, I wandered up to the main square, over to the cathedral, stopping for a cider at Tolkein’s House (I couldn’t resist). After meandering through the market square, which was being packed up for the day, I popped into a streetside restaurant for a late lunch/early dinner of black risotto – squid ink with cuttlefish. Delish!
Black risotto
On my second day, I took a free walking tour (Free Spirit Tours) which took us all around the main sights in the central area, like the main churches of the two old cities, and the Bloody Bridge where the two old towns traditionally fought. The guide was entertaining and the group not too huge, so it was good fun. I also took the open-topped bus around a bit further out, to see a bit more of the city, but the bus didn’t have any tourist information, so I just looked around.
Coolest roof ever
I tried out the Bistro at the hotel for dinner – lots of GF options, including a version of the local speciality, strukli, a pastry drowned in creamy sauce. Of course I had to have that!
GF Strukli
While wending my way around the hotel to get to Le Bistro, I noticed a sign saying HBO Production Room… looks like another lot of filming encountered. Apparently this one is Succession, which I haven’t seen. I’ll have to keep an eye out.
I’d researched ways of getting between Zagreb and Split, and the best option for me looked to be a group transfer via the Plitvice Lakes, which are about halfway between the two. I’d heard they were beautiful (and crowded) and thought the transfer would be an easy way of ticking it off. The lakes are, indeed, beautiful, with the limestone causing the waters to look a cloudy turquoise in some places.
The big waterfall
There are also thousands of other tourists, even when the government had limited the number of tickets available per hour of entry. This meant it was hard to focus on the beauty when there were Instagrammers blocking the narrow pathway over the water to get their perfect shot, and others who wanted to barge past whenever they could. Not the most relaxing of sights, but there were some amazing views which made up for it.
More waterfalls!
The group headed to a nearby café for lunch/dinner, and then hopped on the buses to head either back to Zagreb, or swap buses to the one going to Split. Unfortunately there was a bushfire on the main road to Split, so the highway was closed, and we went the old road through some smaller towns and villages.
Ćevapčići
There were a lot of abandoned and ruined houses as we went through. Apparently a lot of the smaller towns are shrinking because of the aftereffects of the war, and the movement of people after independence is meaning they are becoming ghost towns. The bombed houses were a sombre reminder that this was such a recent event.
Two Weeks Away 