Croatia Trip – Day 15 – Zagreb, Croatia

Zagreb was the red headed step child of our vacation.  We really never intended to go there, but that was the closest airport to Venice that we could fly back home using our miles.  So, it was back to Croatia and Zagreb.

We left our hotel by 10:30am and made the quick 1 and a half hour drive to Zagreb.  Halfway through drive, the rain came pouring down again and the forecast didn’t look great for the rest of the day (one thing we learned is that our weather apps do really crappy forecasts in Croatia and Slovenia).  We arrived at our hotel Dream which was by the airport.  Our flight was at 9am the next morning and I like to catch every minute of sleep I can.  The hotel was disappointing, so that may have been a mistake.  It was out in the middle of nowhere and the room was very, very basic.  In Europe, I expect small rooms and even smaller showers, but this still was a disappointing way to end a trip where we stayed in so many great places.  But, it was a one night mistake and the morning was still easy, so not a big deal.

With the rain continuing, we just relaxed in the room for a couple of hours.  My wife and I watched the season 6 finale of Game of Thrones on HBOGo using a DNS proxy (don’t tell HBO).  Then we did what people do everywhere when it rains, we headed to the mall.  We went to the Avenue Mall which was a newer mall, from what I could tell, at least.  We wandered a bit and then grabbed a late lunch (which would also be our dinner since it was 4pm).  Their food court options were McDonalds, KFC, a Wok Express, a Mexican place, and another place called Foodie.  I got pork ribs at Foodie. Malls are always interesting in foreign countries, from the stores, people, etc.  If you blindfolded an American and put them in that mall, they’d probably still think they were in America.  Lots of teenage girls shopping and teenage boys trying to look cool and get their attention.

The rain wasn’t letting up and we just went back to the hotel.  2 hours of sitting around reading and watching the shows we were planning to watch on the plane, left us bored and then we noticed the sun was finally shining.  Good timing.  It was 7pm, but it’s never too late in Europe as the sun sets well after 9pm.

We headed down to the old city.  Zagreb’s old city has a large pedestrian only area with only streetcars allowed through.  It’s a more modern European city in that sense, as their area is more of a shopping zone than an eating and entertainment zone.  Of course, there are terraces.  There are always terraces.  But, the area just lacks the charm of Ljubljana (I’m spelling that right now on the first try!).

Still full from dinner, we made our way to the Vincek ice cream shop.  It’s actually ranked as some of the best ice cream in the world.  I wasn’t planning on having any, but after tasting my son’s cookies & cream, I had to get my own, too.  When in Zagreb.  Around the corner from Vincek, is a funicular train that leads you up a ridge that holds the older, older city.  The funicular was closed when we got there, so we hiked up the steps.  I’m not sure how high it is, but the walk up takes about 5 minutes.  Compared to what we’ve done on this trip, that was nothing.  Seemed a waste to have a funicular at all.  Not that 5 minutes up stairs isn’t still  a workout.

The sad part was that there wasn’t much up there.  I would have loved to have gone through the Museum of Broken Relationships (a museum of bitter people telling stories of how they broke up, because I like weird shit like that), but knew my kids wouldn’t get it.  And it was now past 8pm and I was ready for a beer.  We wandered the rest of the area a bit, but there isn’t anything up there but a view of the city below.

We walked back down and found ourselves a terrace in a small plaza to rest and grab a drink.  They only had Stella on draft but it went down smooth.  Gave us a chance to recap the trip with the boys and get the highs and lows.  The best part for me is that after I gave them the choice between a road trip or staying in one location for extended periods of time, both kids preferred the road trip.  That bodes well for future road trips like this.   However, I do think I will try to blend in some 3 night stays if we do another 15 day plus trip.  Some continuity is nice, I get that now.

It was an amazing trip, and we saw so much in a relatively short period of time.  I’m sure I could have kept going, but I knew it was time to head home and start planning the next one.

 

Day 1; Day 2; Day 3; Day 4; Day 5; Day 6; Day 7; Day 8; Day 9; Day 10; Day 11; Day 12; Day 13; Day 14; Day 15