Verona has other places of more historical significance, mainly the Arena, the Roman amphitheatre where operas are held, but this was a flying visit so we only saw it from the outside.
We were lucky to find a free parking space in the street but had to walk quite a way to the centre as cars are not allowed - no wonder as there are far too many people. Tourism in Italy is a bit much and I was put off by the huge queue to get into Casa di Guiletta. We should have bought the tickets online to get in but something didn't work and you can't buy them physically. Thankfully though the visit to the patio and balcony is free. But we waited more than half an hour. This is it with Eladio in front.
In the same courtyard/patio there is a statue of her which I think doesn't look at all as how I imagine her. I loved Franco Zeffirelli's Rome and Juliet film which I saw many times and bought the "LP" of the soundtrack. So, that's how I imagined Juliet played by a very young Olivia Hussey, not by the statue in Verona. In any case, we had to have a photo with it for which there was another queue.
We got lost leaving Verona with so many roads and motorways which looked like a spaghetti junction, hahaha but soon we were on the A4 that goes from Milan to Venice. It was about 1.20h to Dogaletto and after a while I took the wheel as Eladio was feeling sleepy. It didn't take long to find our next Airbnb, a much larger accommodation than the tiny mountain hut hahaha. This is the
we stayed at. Our room is the one on the second floor with a huge balcony. Michelle, the young owner, greeted us and welcomed us in. It was a nice big house, not my style inside but everything was clean. The best part was our huge room with an enormous bed with a memory foam mattress, not to mention our own bathroom. When looking for accommodation I have 4 requisites; private bathroom, use of kitchen, wifi and somewhere to park. This was it - notice the recycling bins - very strict in Italy. Spain is way behind when it comes to recycling, I'm afraid.
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| Recycling bins at Michelle's house. |
It's so complicated, he has a general bin in the kitchen and then separates waste himself, bless him or otherwise I would have got it wrong, hahahaha.
Eladio asked what the programme was for the evening and I told him, leisure time, that we were not going anywhere. We had to recharge our batteries for 3 nights and 2 days visiting Venice. One of the things I did though was to book our accommodation in Ljubliana and Zagreb, our next destinations after Venice.
We slept like babies on the wonderful memory foam mattress. I woke up at 6 am on Wednesday morning but had gone to bed early, so was feeling refreshed. Wednesday was the day we were going to see Venice for the first time; one of the most important visits of this road trip. I have travelled all over the world but never to Venice so this was a dream come true. Our place was 17km from the city which you cannot drive to so we drove to the nearest bus stop and took the bus to the city. It left us at Piazzela di Roma. The first thing we saw was a canal except that we were told later it was a river, New River. Not all the canals are canals apparently. Venice is an archipelago on the Adriatic Sea, each island reached by a bridge over a canal or river or by boat of some kind - a real maze.
Venice, the pearl of the Adriatic and one of the most unique cities and most beautiful, in the world, has many names: La Dominante, Serenissima, Queen of the Adriatic, City of Water, City of Masks, City of Bridges, the Floating City and City of Canals. I would call it also a City of Dreams. It is totally spell binding as I would come to realise when I explored just a small part of it.
Everyone who gets off the bus heads, like we would, to Piazza di San Marco which is a 2.4km walk. But before that we spotted our first gondola and just had to get on it. I realised later we should have done so on the Grand Canal for better views, but never mind. Rafaele, was our "captain" and we were his "passageiri"hahha. I know some Italian from having done a course about 40 odd years ago. It was after studying Spanish and Portuguese and I remember getting a bit mixed up but I did learn the basics, especially the pronunciation and it was fun trying to speak the lingo while in the country.
And this is Rafaele
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| Rafaele, our gondolere |
Gondolas only exist in Venice and were first used in the 11th century and are unique to the city. Today there are some 500 in use. The ride was just 30 minutes and we saw many churches of which there are over 130, as well as water taxis and all sorts of boats. I was interested to see boats offloading goods for bars and restaurants, even dustbin boats or ambulances. The ride on the gondola was the highlight of our day in Venice on Wednesday. We couldn't have gone on a better day as the weather was perfect, sunshine and about 18ºc. Here is a
short video of part of our ride.
Saying goodbye to Rafaele who has been sailing on the canals for 30 years, we got off and made our way to the Piazza di San Marco. Thankfully there are signs everywhere and where there weren't we used Google Maps. The signs are mostly to the square but also the Rialto (high river) where one of the most famous bridges is. Here is Eladio showing me the sign posts.
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| Sign posts to St. Mark's Square |
It's quite a walk but an interesting one as you walk over canals and past beautiful churches and buildings. And, finally, we found the heart of the city where the Basilica or Cathedral is. There too is the Palazzo Ducal and the Bell tower (the tallest building in the city) and the beautiful clock tower. This, my friends, is the Basilica - a mixture of Byzantine, Romanesque and Gothic architecture. I've never seen such a beautiful cathedral in my life and neither has Eladio who knows a lot about cathedrals having studied theology and been a priest.
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| The Basilica at St. Mark's Square is magnifent |
As to the square it is unique and huge, difficult to take in. Often in these past few months when we were having our morning coffee in Boadilla, I would say to Eladio, close you eyes and imagine having a coffee in St. Mark's Square which is what we did on Wednesday. We chose the most famous bar, Lavena where the waiters come from times gone past as does the bar itself. There was a live band playing wonderful music. I took a
video of this most unique moment for us which you can see here. This was after ordering a capuccino at 16 euros a cup, but I thought it was worth it. A fellow tourist took this photo of the two of us which rivals with the feature photo of us on the gondola.
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| Coffee in St. Mark's Square |
I took loads of photos but this one with the friendly waiter is my favourite.
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| Eladio and the waiter |
We could have sat there all day but we had to see more. By then Venice was teeming with tourists but what can you do? The whole of Italy is like that; just overpopulated with tourists. If it is like this in April I wonder what it is like in July or August; impossible.
Before trying to go into the Basilica, we walked to the Grand Canal just off the square. Here is a snapshot of that part of St. Mark's Square.
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| St.Mark's Square, or part of it. |
And there it was, the Grand Canal which looks like open sea. And there were all the gondoleres waiting for tourists.
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| By the Gran Canal |
Just off the Grand Canal you come to another of the most famous sights in Venice, the Bridge of Sighs. Someone offered to take our picture for which I adjusted my sun glasses and they fell into the canal - ouch. It is called the Bridge of Sighs for two reasons: One is that if a couple kiss while passing under the bridge they will enjoy eternal love- The other is people sigh in despair as they see the Grand Canal for the last time.
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| The famous Bridge of Sighs |
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| The Grand Canal |
When we had had our fill, we walked back to St. Mark's Square to try to visit the Basilica. We went past another landmark, the Duke's Palace.
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| Palazzio Ducal |
While queuing to go inside the Basilica, I was right in front of a beautiful white building with the symbol of St. Mark at the top (with a lion) and fell in love with it, just as I had fallen in love with Venice the moment I stepped into St. Mark's Square. It is the Clock Tower.
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| The Clock Tower in St. Mark's Square |
We had to wait for about half an hour to go in and it was actually free - most surprising. I honestly can't describe just how beautiful the Basilica is. If you've been you will know that and if you haven't I suggest you go.
I was piqued by the Confession boxes, like this one. I wondered if tourists ever go to confession, hahahha.
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| Confession box in the Basilica |
We were hungry when we came out and wrongly decided to have lunch at a restaurant by one of the busiest tourist spots the Rialto bridge. It was a tourist trap but the location was amazing as was the food. This was my bruschetta.
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| Brusshetta, delicious |
And here is Eladio at our table.
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| Lunch in Venice on Wednesday |
After lunch, we were done. Besides we had to walk 2.4km back to the bus station so we called it a day. You can take in so much beauty and then no more; because the Stendhal syndrome kicks in and you can't carry on. It took a while to find the station but we did and were soon on the 53E bus back to the towon of "Malcontenta" - means not happy both in Spanish and Italian hahaha. We were bushed when we got off but before heading home, made a visit to the local supermarket, or rather hyper market, IperLando, recommended to us by our host Michele. It was huge and excellent with prices similar to Spain, thus much cheaper than in France. We bought lots of fruit as well as bread, milk and some mortadela for me. And, of course, we bought some prosecco wine which is from the Veneto region. I also bought some gnocci which my host cooked for me, bless him.
We were soon home where we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in a leisurely manner. Again I slept well and woke up early on Thursday morning when we had another day to look forward to in Venice. Our host recommended we visit some of the many islands that Venice is made up of. The most popular it seems are Murano, Torcello and Burano. I learned that Venice has 113 islands, 40 of them being inhabited. Amazing.
I wasn't sure how to get there, how to get tickets, etc, but I found out easily when I got to the Piazzele Roma (where the buses stop and next to the Grand Canal). We booked a 4 hour trip starting at 11.30 which would take us to the islands. Here is Eladio queuing up.
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| Getting on the ferry near the train station in Venice on the Grand Canal |
Honestly we knew nothing about the islands, not much about Venice either but we went away feeling we had touched its surface.
The ferry stopped at St. Mark's Square to pick up more passengers which gave us a great view of Venice. Here is Eladio as we approached this most famous square.
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| Approaching St. Mark's square, the heart of Venice |
We went past many of the islands, as well as the Lido which is very near and has a beach. Everything was explained first in Italian then in French and lastly in English so all quite understandable. On our boat I heard two women/girls talking and one had a strong Yorkshire accent. Of course I spoke to them. I couldn't resist it. One was from Rishworth in Calderdale near Sowerby Bridge - Happy Valley country and the other was from Liverpool - a "liverbird". They had worked together for Virgin airlines and were good friends. The Liverpudlian, a beautiful woman in her late 40's remarked to me that my husband was "gorgeous". I agreed, of course, but then she said it to him. He was totally taken a back but responded like a gentleman and said you are gorgeous. I told her he was my own George Clooney, hahahaha. We made friends with them easily and would see them on and off all through the day.
The first stop was Murano, famous for glass making. We got off the boat and were ushered into Industria Vetri Artistici Ferro-Lazzara where we got a demonstration on how Venetian glass is made. And here below is the "maestro" Mariano who made the glass objects you can see in the photo below.
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| Mariano the glass maker - Murano, Venice |
Of course we were then ushered into a sales room where we did not buy any glass. It's not really my thing. At home, though, I have some Murano glass vases bought by my maternal grandmother who visited Venice in the 60's. She loved it. Me too.
We only had about 50 minutes at each island and after the glass blowing, we found the perfect place to have a wonderful cappuccino. Italians really do know how to make them; after all they invented them.
We love our mid morning coffees and to have one together in a place like Murano made it extra special that day. This is where we had it; just look at our surroundings and just look at the blue sky. We were very lucky with the weather in Venice. I'm sure it's not the same if it rains. Everything was blue, beautiful.
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| Capuccino in Murano - the island where glass is made |
From Murano we sailed to Torcello, an island that is very popular with Venetians. They call it the abandoned island as its population fled from the island centuries ago after some natural catastrophe. It houses a 7th century church which was the cathedral of Venice until the 18th century.
We didn't have long to linger so walked back along the canal. I spied an unusual brick and stone bridge so got my husband to pose. It's great isn't it?
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| Brick bridge over the canal in Torcello - the abandoned island, a favourite of the Venetians. |
We were soon on our way to our last destination, Burano, one of the most northern islands and the furthest away (40 minutes sailing from St. Mark's Square). It is famous for its coloured houses and lace making and full of canals and beautiful bridges. I managed to get the guide to let us take the next ferry so as to give us more time in Burano. It overawed us as soon as we stepped out. It was like walking into a fairy tale. Every street was a colourful surprise and we couldn't stop taking photos. I particularly like this one of my "gorgeous" husband. The one below is of me in the same place.
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| Eladio standing by one of the canals |
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Me in the same street in Burano
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By then we were hungry and spied lots of enticing eating places. This is the one we chose. We were served by a Cuban waiter who was a sweetie.
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Lunch in Burano
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We both had pasta but didn't have a bellini - the typical Venetian cocktail made with prosecco and peaches. We were told we should go to Harry's Bar in the centre to try them but never made it.
After lunch. we strolled along more colourful streets and came to this pretty square. This is it.
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| Main square Burano - coloured houses |
I loved it so much I took a video which you can see here. In that same square I bought a beautiful white scarf embroidered with dark blue flowers. I bought it because I loved it but also because I need a headscarf for when we visit churches in Turkey, Georgia and Armenia.
All too soon our 4.5h boat trip to the 2 islands of Murano, Torcello and Burano was over and we were back in Venice. The first stop was St. Mark's Square where we decided to get off instead of near the bus station, just to get another chance to see the city. Before we left, we had a photo with the English girls with whom we had made friends that day.
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| Our fellow passengers on the island tour from Liverpool and Rishworth Calderdale Yorkshire |
By then the city was even fuller of tourists than the day before so at times we had to queue to walk. We got lost on the way back through so many streets and across canals and bridges but made it to Piazelle di Roma where we caught the 53E bus back to Malcontenta.
We were home by 6 pm which gave us plenty of time to rest before dinner. I spent the time uploading photos, responding to guests and updating my guest calendar - I got 5 new reservations for our 3 places; our home in Madrid, the house in Asturias and the apartment in Santa Pola - great stuff. That day at home a family of 7 from Indonesia arrived. Suzy was in charge of greeting them and was very excited to speak Indonesian to them. That day too, sadly, for me, at least, I bought a one way ticket to Bali for Suzy which is where she wants to live and to start life again. The next day was her birthday and she turned 39. She considered this her birthday present. For me it is a worry.
Dinner was a small affair but I loved the leftover gnocchi. Then it was early to bed and I slept sort of ok that night. I woke up on Friday morning at 6 am in plenty of time for leaving early for Ljubliana.
Friday was Suzy's birthday. She turned 39, just one year short of 40 and we weren't there. She won't be at home when we return either as she is leaving on 9th May to live in Bali again . Thankfully Oli would be with her and they were having dinner together that night to celebrate. And, oh, by the way, I have some news about Oli and Miguel. They are getting married on 16th June. It will be a low key wedding - not white bridal dress and they are marrying for practical purposes only. In any case, it will be a joyous occasion.
But home was far from our thoughts as we left Dogaletto for Ljubliana. Finally we would be entering the Balkans, an area which I have never been to. But on the way we had been recommended by our host Michelle to visit Palmanova about an hour away and on the way to Slovenia. I had never heard of it but it looked intriguing. This is what it looks like from above.
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| Palmanova, a 9 star fortress town built in the 16th century to defend itself from invasion. |
I had never heard of so-called "star cities" but my cultured husband had. There about 8 of them in Europe and I think Palmanova is the finest. These star shaped forts came into being during the Renaissance. It's a military style architecture which came into being in the 1500s and 1600s when most parts of Europe were eternally at war.
We were there very shortly bur unfortunately it was raining - while most of Spain was sizzling with temperatures reaching 38ºc in Seville! - so we parked easily and walked into the main square. It is so huge it was impossible to take a photo.
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| The main square and the very centre of the 9 starred city of Palmanova just an hour from Venice |
We walked into the cathedral where a funeral was being held and respectfully walked out and along one of the 3 fortified exits vying with cars at the same time. The outside of the town, with its star shape, is all green and lush and if it hadn't been raining we would have loved to walk all around it.
So we walked back into the main square to have our last coffee in Italy before continuing our journey. Of course I had a cappuccino. Oh the Italians are the only ones who really know how to make them. This is where we had it, under the awnings because it was raining.
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| My last cappuccino in Italy was in Palmanova, an intriguing town. |
Very soon we had passed Trieste and were entering Slovenia. I looked up the policy on motorway tolls. They are prepaid and you have to register your car and your details online and then get a receipt which you must present at a service station. The system is called Dars Go. It was a bit complicated but as I am becoming a very good co pilot, I managed and as soon as we had passed the border I paid at a service station and we were ready to go.
I read up about Slovenia while Eladio drove. It is a small country, very green, lots of forests and mountains but with some coastline. It belonged to many countries and empires before it declared its independence in 1991 when communism fell. Before, of course, it belonged to former Yugoslavia. Most Slovenians are Catholic, the population is only about 2 million and they speak Slovenian. Their language is a South Slavic language. The only word I learned was "hvala" which means thank you and is pronounced "vala". It is supposedly very close to Bulgarian, Serbo-Croatian and Macedonian. Curiously though they use the Latin Script and not Cyrillic. However, Cyrillic can be used too. I was intrigued by the accents on certain words. I think the correct word is "stresica" (in Slovenian) with the little upside down hat on the "c" and it means "little roof". This symbol/upside down circumflex or "caron" is used to to show that some letters are pronounced differently. In Slovenian, at least, and in Serbo Croatian, and maybe others, the three letters č, š ž are pronounced "ch", "sh" and "je". Frankly, I think the English alphabet could do well with introducing the "caron", hahahaha. This symbol is a what is known in linguistics as a diacritical mark. Maybe some of you linguists out there can enlighten me further. Today many Slovenians speak English as they do Italian on the coast. The country borders with Austria, Croatia, Hungary and Italy. As we drove to its capital Ljubliana, I saw vehicles from so many countries as I would everywhere in the region.
We soon reached the city and our
wonderful apartment. This time I had found one on Booking and it was for us alone - no owner living in it. It was an attic apartment and was small but very compact. Here is Eladio settling in. We had lunch as soon as we were ready.
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| Our apartment was housed in this beautifully restored house very near the old centre in Ljubliana |
As soon as we were ready, we walked outside, determined to see as much of the city as we could in a space of about 4 or 5 hours. We were only staying one night - onto Zagreb the next day. The owners who have turned it into 11 apartments with most of them full when we were there, must be making a packet. The place was absolutely pristine. We loved it apart from the fact it was on the 3rd floor and there was no lift:-(
Eladio had looked up the main sights: the dragon bridge, the triple bridge, the cathedral of St. Nicholas, the boulevards, the food market - splendid - as well as one of the most important landmarks, the red church on the square by the triple bridge, the Franciscan Church of the Annunciation, as well, as a castle. There seem to have been castles and cathedrals in every town we have visited so far. It was about 1.4km to reach the old town and it was a rather grey afternoon but at least it wasn't raining. Soon we arrived in the old town and the first thing we saw was the Dragon bridge. The dragon is a symbol of the city. Jason the founder of Ljubliana killed one. They say when a virgin crosses it, the dragons wag their tales. From its initial portrayal as a monster, it turned into the symbol and protector of the city.
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| The dragon bridge in Ljubliana |
There are many bridges that cross the "Ljublianica" river. The next one had padlocks hanging from it. It's real name is the Butcher's bridge but is known as the "love bridge" where couples padlock their love and drop the keys into the river. I took a picture but we didn't leave a padlock there hahaha.
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| The butcher's bridge or "love bridge" |
We were then suddenly in the Market Square with the Cathedral behind it and oh what a thriving place it was. It reminded me slightly of Borough Market in London. There was food on offer from all the cuisines in the world. We weren't hungry but came back again several times and in the end purchased some ready made food for our dinner.
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| The food market in Ljubliana |
From there we walked to the cathedral and paid 2 euros each to go inside. It is Gothic and a symbol of the city. Eladio loved it and asked for a photo by the altar. His wish was my command.
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| Eladio inside the cathedral in Ljubliana |
From the cathedral we walked to the "triple bridge", another city landmark with the imposing red church, the Franciscan church of the Assumption, in the main square by the bridge. Here is Eladio just in front of the three bridges.
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| Eladio next to the triple bridge. |
I took a
video which you can see here and below is a close up of the unique bridge.
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| The Triple Bridge in Ljubliana, in the heart of the city |
Above the old city is the castle. The part that attracted us was the funicular to get there and of course the views from above so off we went in search of the cable car. It was amazingly steep but a very short ride. In the cable car, we met two Spaniards, Charri and her brother Fito from Alicante and Murcia. They were accompanied by a local guide who I spoke to quite a lot. She was my main source of information during my visit to Slovenia. Fito took a photo of us at the top of the city. It was nice to meet some Spaniards.
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| With a Spanish lady Charri from Murcia (in dark glasses) and her lovely Slovenian guide |
And below is the castle which we only saw from the outside.
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| The castle that dominates the city of Ljubliana |
Once we had seen the views and walked around the grounds, we took the cable car down again and got talking to a young man and his girlfriend who are from Rome. He had studied in Valencia and was keen to practice his Spanish. When we talk to people and tell them briefly we are on a 12.000 km road trip with no return date they are all pretty amazed. I think they are amazed that people our age are doing it hahahhaa.
Once on firm ground, we walked back into the old town and to the food market again. There, Eladio made a beeline for a stall selling barbecued ribs. It was owned by a very friendly Slovenian who has a restaurant called
Stari Pisker. I knew "stari" meant old (it's the same in Russian) and he explained that "pisker" means pot. The dear man gave me his card and then took me to another stall he had where they were making Slovenian strudel. He asked me whether I liked desserts. The man doesn't know just how much of a sweet a tooth I have hahaha. I chose the strudel made with apricot. We had to have a photo and I promised I would mention his restaurant in my blog and I have stuck to my word.
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With the owner of the Stari Pisker restaurant who gave me some of his delicious apricot strudel at the food market in Ljubliana on Friday
After thanking him for his kindness, we went on our way to explore more of the heart of the old city near the pretty river. The architecture seems very influenced from both Italy and Austria and maybe also Hungary and the houses bordering the river were all in good condition. Lots of people were having drinks on terraces all along the street. The place was vibrant. Here is Eladio posing for me on the street with all the terraces. |
Eladio yesterday in Ljubliana
Sorry, I don't remember any of the names as they were so complicated. But I did recognise one word - "street". I was happy to see it is "ulica" - just like Russian "ulitza". My limited knowledge of Russian will come in handy on our travels in the Balkans and possibly Georgia and Armenia. After more than 4 hours walking in the old city, we were tired. My smart watch told me we had walked more than 15.000 steps. No wonder my knee was beginning to hurt. But before we left I went back to a food stall offering Bosnian cuisine which I could not resist. There I bought my dinner, some flat bread with meat rolls and a tomato and pepper type sauce.
It was a short walk back to our apartment where I sat on the terrace before climbing the 3 floors. I was intrigued to see our car, a Mini from Spain, surrounded by cars from Bosnia, Holland, Hungary, Serbia, Italy, Germany and Croatia - wow, I really was in the Balkans.
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| Our car in the apartment building car park in Ljubliana surrounded by cars from Bosnia, Serbia, Holland and Croatia. We were the ones who had come the furthest to visit Ljubliana |
Once back in our lovely little apartment, I did what I always do in the evenings on our road trip; upload my photos and, when necessary, book our next nights. I had booked our place in Zagreb but needed to book somewhere in Slavonski Grod (town in Croatia, the half way mark between
Zagreb and Belgrade), Belgrade and of course Sofia. I found what I hoped would be lovely places and booked them there and then. I am mostly using Airbnb but also Booking.
We ate our exotic food and then settled into bed to sleep or in my case watch a bit of The Diplomat on Netflix and then read.
The bed was very comfortable and I slept well. I was up at 6 am on
Saturday morning but we didn't have to leave until at least 10.30. Our drive to Zagreb would be one of the shortest as it is only 140km from Ljubliana. We met the owner, Spela (pronounced "Shpela") just as we left and her daughter "Masha"; my namesake. Spela was lovely and told us about places to stop on the way to Zagreb. She said to have a coffee at the
Hotel Grad Otocec and so we went there. As we left the city, we filled the tank and were relieved to see a litre cost 1.4 euros. As we continue our journey it will get even cheaper.
We were bowled over when we reached the Otocec castle. It was like something out of a fairy tale. This is it, as seen from the bridge over the River Kirka. It's now a 5 star hotel and a far cry from where we would be staying in Zagreb. It was not open for coffee though, only opening at 14h and we couldn't wait.
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| Otocec - beautiful place |
Getting into Zagreb would be a challenge. Thankfully Spela had warned me we couldn't park in the centre and would have to leave our car in a garage further out. The owners of our accommodation told us which one and we found it quite quickly. It was about 500 metres from our accommodation but we needed a taxi for all our belongings. The place from the outside looked ghastly and I was disappointed. When booking it I had put filters in for parking on the premises and a kitchen but the
Niva Rooms had neither. This is what the entrance to it looked like; very off putting.
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| The dreadful entrance to our accommodation in Zagreb |
Again there was no lift and poor Eladio had to lug all our stuff up to the third floor. We didn't like the place but at least the room was quite big and extremely clean. We soon settled in and made a makeshift lunch which we ate in our room. Only then did we venture outside. It was warm and sunny - 22º - so no need for jumpers. From our street "Ilica", in the heart of the city, we walked to the big square Jelacic Square. You have to be careful walking the streets in Zagreb because of all the trams.
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| Jelacic Square, Zagreb |
From there we went in search of the Cathedral but it was undergoing repair work and could not be visited. We then walked along the supposedly prettiest street. It has an unpronounceable name:
Tkalčićeva Street . We walked along it but I didn't find it particularly pretty. It was full of restaurants and bars and people, so lively but not as nice as the streets in Ljubliana. Zagreb had never been a place we were keen to see but it's on the way to Sofia. However, we shall see prettier areas of Croatia, like Dubrovnik and Split, on our way back through Greece and Albania.
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| Tkalčićeva Street |
We decided to stop and have something to drink, to rest more than anything and we found a place on the so-called pretty street. Since we entered the Balkans, we have of course remembered and spoken about the terrible Balkan Wars here in the early 90's. At that cafe we did lots of research both to refresh our memories and to learn more. It is impossible to summarise them here but we all know just how terrible they were. They led to the complete split of former Yugoslavia into all the countries that are now independent. Both Eladio and I had learned at school that this was Yugoslavia, so no wonder, it takes a bit of time to place all the new independent former Yugoslave countries not only on a map but in our heads. This trip is helping. The Balkans are no longer a mystery to me.
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| Eladio studying the Balkan War at a cafe in Zagreb yesterday |
Before heading back to the Niva Rooms accommodation, we went in search of another city landmark, The Church of St. Mark. It's beautiful but again it was being renovated and we couldn't go in.
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| Eladio in Zagreb town yesterday with the church of St. Mark behind him. |
As we ambled along the nearby streets we saw many bridal groups; so many I called out to congratulate them. Many of them headed to the top of the town which can be reached by a funicular - for their wedding photos. We went there too and were greeted with views of the city like the one below where you can see the cathedral.
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| Views of Zagreb and the cathedral from the top of the town |
We could have taken the cable car down but decided to walk "home". That day we walked over 12.000 steps and again my knee was aching.
We actually slept well here and soon we shall be making our breakfast in our room. Thankfully, the place we are staying at in Slavonski Brod tonight has a kitchen.
And so my friends, I leave you here, from Zagreb. I am not sure where I will be writing from next Sunday but if all goes to plan it should be from Turkey. We are in no rush. We don't have a return date so will take this slowly and enjoy as many moments of this trip of our life as we can.
Cheers and thanks for reading today's post,
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