Sunday was Flixbus day again, this time a scheduled 4 hours and 15 minutes from Budapest to Zagreb. We walked two blocks from our Airbnb to the stop for Tram 49. The yellow tram arrived right on schedule. We wheeled our luggage onto the tram, and about 20 minutes later we were at our stop at a Budapest bus station. After some confusion when our bus for Zagreb pulled into the platform that had listed a departure to Prague, we boarded the bus. The bus ride was fine, and the Hungarian countryside was interesting, particularly when we had views of Lake Balaton. We were a little worried because we had a cougher in the seat in front of us, but thankfully we did not end up with Covid unlike our experience in Italy two years earlier. About two hours into the bus ride, the driver pulled into a highway rest stop/gas station/convenience store, and announced he was taking a 40-minute break. Really? At least we were able to use facilities. But we had to use our credit card to enter. I had no idea what it cost when I tapped with my card, but I saw it come through on our credit card app at 58 cents. As a result of our driver break, we arrived a little late into Zagreb.
For our last two nights in Zagreb, we decided to rent an Airbnb one tram stop down from the main square. It was so easy to use the tram, we had purchased 2 tram tickets in advance and decided to take Tram 6 that had a stop literally right across the street from where we were staying. Unfortunately, Tram 6 was not running on Sunday due to track maintenance. We decided to take an Uber. Then we entered Uber-hell. The first driver who accepted was 10 minutes away. He was driving towards the bus station, and then suddenly cancelled the ride. The next driver was 10 minutes away. He got close to the bus station, we were looking for it, and it was not there. I had a message in the Uber app that he missed the turn into the bus station and would loop around (a 10-minute process). He finally arrived. But when he took us to our Airbnb address and we unloaded, it turned out we were a block away. With all those delays, it had started getting dark and the entryway to our place was not lighted. I phone flashlight to the rescue! All in all, it certainly could have been worse, but without the Tram line maintenance it would have been easy.
After a few minutes unpacking and seeing that the Wi fi worked, we headed out to dinner at a place our tour guide had suggested 10 days earlier, La Struk. A Croation specialty dish is strukli. This restaurant sells noting but strukli. We shared a pasta and truffles strukli, and shortly after that came our blueberry strukli. Yum!
By the time we got back to our place after dinner, the noon Packers game vs. the Texans was at halftime. Tom discovered that the radio broadcast was streaming globally on packers.com. So, Tom stayed up and listened to the game (walk-off field goal for the win!) while Cindy went to bed early in the upstairs loft.
After breakfast at our Airbnb Monday morning, we headed to the local market near the main square to marvel at all the fresh food for sale. Our guide had pointed out ten days earlier that a particular souvenir shop was run by locals and not touristy, with prices much better than the shops in the touristy areas. Tom bought a Nikola Tesla shirt, and Cindy bought towels.
We had some time to kill before lunch, so, of course, we stopped in at the Irish pub just off the market that had outdoor seating. The weather was perfect. We had seen a Kilkenny Irish red ale sign, so of course we ordered Kilkenny beers. Keep in mind, it was 10:00 am. After enjoying the beers and the people watching, Tom went in to pay and asked our server to look at the name on his credit card. The server got excited and told the bartender. The bartender said, well of course another round of Kilkenny’s is on the house. Unlike our first beers, she poured these in some Kilkenny glasses. As we were leaving, Tom asked if he could buy a couple of those glasses. She said sure. Tom said how much. She said name a price. Tom said how about 2 for €5. She said sold. So, Tom traveled back home with two Kilkenny glasses in his briefcase.
We had an amazing lunch just a few steps away from that pub, right next to the market. This was a fish restaurant our tour guide had pointed out. They source all their fish from the fish market next door. The atmosphere is nothing to write home about, but we enjoyed the outdoor seating looking at all the people shopping in the outdoor market. The menu depends on what fish is available that day. Tom had sea bream, and Cindy had sea bass. We each had an entire grilled fish, along with vegetables and bread. The cost was just €16 euro each. Fantastic!
We often like to visit interesting cemeteries on our trips. Florence and Buenos Aires are two that come to mind. Zagreb has one of the most famous cemeteries in the world. So, we hopped on the bus that has a stop at the cemetery. The place was huge, I would guess close to a square mile, and in the middle of Zagreb (up the hill above the Upper Town). The cemetery itself was kind of fun (a quiet oasis in the middle of a big city), but the building walls around the cemetery is what makes it amazing. It looks more like a castle on the outside than a cemetery.
After the cemetery visit, we stopped in at a wine bar for a tasting of a variety of Croatian wines (along with a charcuterie board). The owner was originally from Australia, although his wife is Croatian. His oldest son works in the business, and his next-oldest son is a high school soccer star. Our main wine sommelier was a local person who was very passionate about Croatian wines. Near the end of the tasting, we mentioned that with the owner being Australian, we liked that he was from Croatia. He looked at us indignantly and said, “I am from Zagreb!”. We decided not to probe more on that.
Leave a Reply