Zagreb and Travel Day (Day 9, Mar 25)

I was looking forward to today since we would be visiting Zagreb, Croatia's capital. I am a sucker for a governmental center, as many of you know.

We had to get there from Vodice first which is about a 3.5 hour drive without stops. This would be a long bus day, but the scenery was interesting. The climate and terrain changed as we moved towards the interior of the country.

View from the bus. That hole in the mountain is a kind of cave.

As I mentioned before, we get plenty of stops on a long ride like this. It gives everyone a chance to stretch their legs, get a coffee, visit the WC (as they call it here), and in this case, eat lunch. Marché is a chain of restaurants/convenience stores that are all around Croatia, Slovenia, and Austria. We'd been to several already but this one was the best (IMHO) since we had a great lunch of goulash and homemade (?) bread. I also like these since they seem to me to be primarily for locals--or at least local travelers.

The Marché Cow

We got to Zagreb about 2 pm and began with a guided tour. It lasted about an hour and then we were on our own until 4:15.

Zagreb Art Pavilion

Bronze city model

House Lenuci

Zagreb Cathedral. Unfortunately, the top was being reconstructed and we couldn't go in.

Holy Mary Monument outside the cathedral

St. Mark's Church. Couldn't get in this one either. Our guide said the government closed off access for their own parking--only allowing people in on Sunday.

Sts. Cyril and Methodius Greek Catholic Church

City Market

Ban Josip Jelačić Square

View of Zagreb from lookout point

Most of the above photos were taken during the guided tour. Afterwards, we walked around a bit, did some souvenir shopping, and then headed back to the meeting point. I'm jumping ahead a bit here, but most of the group (including Fe) would have preferred to skip this. I was a bit disappointed too, but we didn't have a lot of time to explore the city--by riding the trams, sitting at a cafe, looking into a museum, etc.--the time we had to meet the bus was hanging over our heads. I would like to come back and see things like we did in Budapest.

I believe another reason we stopped here was to give our (excellent) driver a break. We were still over two hours away from our final stop in Bled, Slovenia. We finally got to the Hotel Park after 6 pm.

Our hotel room

It was too dark when we got here to really explore so we just relaxed in the room, but I can't wait until tomorrow.

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Adriatic Adventure Time

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