After four days in Hungary, it was hard to switch countries. We were knocked out of vacation-mode and into figuring-out-new-country-mode for a day. That was yesterday. Today has been much more enjoyable here at the coast of the Adriatic Sea. We got into Zagreb about 2:30pm on Monday and went from the train station into downtown - the town sprawled out before us as soon as we came out of the station. My travel book said the tourist officies are helpful in Croatia for booking rooms, getting maps, etc. So, we headed for the nearest office. It was all young people working there (as this is a country where the only people who know English are those under 30). The girl was helpful and called in our reservation to a local hostel. She mentioned the price, nonspecifically, and told us it was not far away, circling the street on the map. As we walked I got worked up into a huff about how the price she said might be per person and that her version of "not far" was quite innacurate. Then I made a conspiracy theory about the tourist office getting a kickback for booking the room and so they jacked up the price without showing where the slipped the extra fee in. And, she couldn't say it was actually 16 blocks away because we would have wanted a closer place and she would not have gotten the extra buck! And, once we got there, the price was for both of us, it was clean and private, and I realized I was a little cranky.
Then we walked to the bus station to book our tickets for coming to the coast to see Zadar. We interacted with a Croat who was not so pleased with my English, but between the three of us, we got the tickets purchased. The bus stations have been nice, in a sort of mall-ish kind of way. There are vendors and stores and places for espresso. We have had lots of espresso and I never thought I would prefer it as a way to drink coffee. I think I will have to start saving for an espresso machine when I get home!
My other highlights have been walking around Old Town Zadar, right on the coast of the Adriatic; buying handmade slipper-socks (we decided to call them slocks) from a Croatian lady; and staying with a really nice old couple, who don't speak English, but have a couple rooms for rent (which the local non-conspiratal tourist office found for us). I have also been noticing a lovely smell that everyone has on and this morning I discovered it is the bar soap in the lady's bathroom. Actually, our rented bathroom (we're not living with the old couple - just staying in the room next door). So, today I stopped in the supermarket and bought the soap - it's Palmolive bar soap - who knew?! I also found a kind of wine I like here (in Hungary and here) and it is like $2 a glass. We ride a bus back to Zagreb tonight and then fly to Berlin tomorrow. The bus ride was also really fascinating - to see the countryside of Croatia and the houses (much of the housing, buildings, etc) were destroyed in the Balkan War which only ended in 1995.
See you soon!
-Annie
It's been a whirlwind tour of Eastern Europe: a morning in Berlin, one night in Prague, two nights in Budapest, two nights on Lake Balaton, one night in Zagreb, and one night in Zadar. So much travelling does get tiring.
Zagreb, where our train from Hungary arrived, is the capital of Croatia. All of downtown is within an easily walkable cluster, perhaps ten blocks in each direction from the center. We spent Monday evening exploring the streets in the old town, finding nice cafes and restaurants. The streets were filled with young people out socializing. Zagreb has a pleasant feel somewhat in between Prague's old worldliness and the disorganization of Budapest.
We walked to the bus station in Zagreb as the sun was rising on Tuesday morning for our three and a half hour ride to Zadar. Rolling hills covered in forest stretched on both sides of the smooth, new highway all the way to the coast.
Zadar itself is a modern town on the northern end of the Dalmation coast, stretching inland from a small peninsula that holds Old Town. Half the buildings in Old Town are quite new, but the other half are hundreds of years old. Beneath these buildings, sometimes exposed, are the walls and foundations of a Roman city. The narrow streets hold an unbelievable number of cafes and bars with trendy shops and some restaurants in between.
A leisurely walk around the intermitent wall that surrounds the Old Town peninsula takes perhaps half an hour. Last night after watching the sun set over the islands that lay across the Zadar Straight to the west, Annie and I headed across one of the pedestrian bridges into the newer neighborhoods of Zadar. They are suburban and quiet outside of the odd casino or sports betting hall. When we returned to old town we found several of the most trendy night spots overflowing with loud youngsters but most bars completely empty all night.
This morning we got up early to take pictures in the morning light. After checking out of our private room (awkwardly) in a mixture of English, German, and hand gestures, none of which our hostess seemed to understand, we've spent the day exploring more of the old sights and people watching. Now we've got another hour and a half before our trip back to Zagreb for the night.
-Aaron
No comments:
Post a Comment