Zagreb, Croatia Adventures—June 1–June 4, 2021

This is the distinctive St. Marks Cathedral surrounded by government buildings.

This will be my first visit to Croatia and Greece along with short visits to Montenegro, Albania, and North Macedonia.  It will be a trip of 54 days which was to include an Intrepid Tours 15-day trip from Dubrovnik, Croatia to Greece, but they canceled about a month before my departure.  This is my third cancellation with them including Central America, Turkey, and now this trip.  I guess COVID border crossing requirements make it too difficult to arrange these trips.

With the expected warmer weather, I am able to travel lighter and am starting out with just 9 lbs backpack along with another 7 lbs of clothing I am wearing.

I caught a light rail train from downtown Seattle to the SEA airport where I had to show proof of my COVID vaccination to board the Lufthansa flight.  There was no line at the TSA PreCheck so I was able to have lunch before boarding the flight. 

View of Mt. Rainier from the Light Rail to SEA.

Flying north from SEA over Seattle.

I used 66,000 miles from my United frequent flyer account for these two flights: one from SEA>FRA>ZAG and the return from ATH>FRA>SEA. Airport fees were about $150 for these two flights with Lufthansa.  It was an uneventful 11-hour flight to Frankfurt where we had a real meal of penne pasta and salad. 

I slept for a bit and then I watched Nomandland, which was a bitter-sweet story about the survival and endurance of people who have lost much or never had much despite working most of their lives.  They have created a community of other survivors.  

We were delayed in Frankfurt for about 1/2 hour at the immigration checkpoint while the bomb squad cleared out left luggage.  We had a comfortable connection time to the final flight to Zagreb on a smaller plane.

The Zagreb Airport was new and clean.  After clearing immigration where I again had to show my COVID vaccination card, I walked about 200 yards to the 290 bus stop which would take me to downtown Zagreb.  

One of the airport workers rode with me and she showed me where to take the tram to get to the center of Zagreb. The bus driver gave me a free ride since he did not have any change for me and the final tram cost just 6 Kuna—about $1USD. You can buy the tram/bus tickets and postage stamps at any newsstand or from the driver.  The tickets are for either a half-hour, an hour, or all day.  They have a time stamp machine I used to begin my travel time. So easy—how convenient is that. 

It turned out that while I was there, they had Corpus Christi Day, a Christian holiday, so many of the museums and markets were closed, including the Dolac Market.

I did not spot any big celebrations though.  The many streetside restaurants were packed with people enjoying the holiday and beautiful warm weather.

I did the Lonely Planet walking tour of the downtown area which took me to churches, markets, government buildings, restaurant rows, and one of the shortest funiculars in the world.

This is the closed Croatian Museum of Naive Art with the Lotrscak Tower in the far background.

The funicular railway was built in 1888.

Train Station

Stone Gate is a religious site with Votive candles, pews, and wall-mounted memorials.  According to legend a fire in 1731 destroyed all of the wooden gates except for the painting of the Virgin and Child.  People believe that the painting has miraculous powers so they come to pray, light candles, and leave flowers. 

Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Kapitol Square.

Repairs following earthquake damage.

 

City viewpoint near the funicular.

Art Pavilion

Lotrscak Tower

One of the few museums open was the Museum of Broken Relationships.  

It was filled with mementos and stories of how it represented the end of relationships.  Here is one story from a woman from the Netherlands who was in a relationship with a Peruvian.

I stayed at the Speeka Hostel which received rave reviews from travelers pre-COVID, and when I arrived it was filled with construction workers and long-term residents, and I was the only traveler.  I ended up with a private room with three other empty beds.  

Like my last trip to Turkey, I again was impressed by how well kept the city was and how smooth and efficient the public transit system was.  Although there may be some homeless people here, there were no tent encampments encroaching on public walkways and parks as found in the US and more specifically Seattle.

Streetside restaurants and bars filled many of the streets where people gathered and it may be that in the US and Seattle, the newly COVID-constructed outdoor serving places will continue and that perhaps they may even block off some streets for such activities to thrive without the mingling of cars.

I caught the 6 Tram from the Trag Bana Jelacica Square to the Autobus center for my journey to the Plitvicka Jezera National Park.

Ban Jelacic was the 19th Century governor who led Croatian troops into an unsuccessful battle with Hungary.

I caught this green bus to Lake Plitvice National Park some 2 hours away on smooth toll roads followed by a twisty road through some beautiful lush green farmland that got increasingly mountainous.

I have recently uploaded all of my travel videos to YouTube now that they allow longer uploads and you may want to see my Peru Adventures there as well as my other travel videos.  That link is https://www.youtube.com/c/huntforgold 

If you do go there, please subscribe to my video channel since it will help me eventually get some income there and help with my future travels. Fewer people are using DVDs so I am transitioning to streaming my travels on my YouTube channel.