Zagreb Bound

Thursday we had to leave this beautiful island of Hvar.  The ferry to Split only runs a few times a day so we had to be sure that we made the 11 am ferry.  We left at 9:15 to make the 17km trip to Stari Grad and the ferry.  We arrived and were in the second line up- should be no problem to get on this one- turns out the ferry was at 11:30 now (the schedules change like the wind here!)  Of course there was a coffee shop- so we sat back and relaxed for a bit and had a coffee.  At about 10:30 we saw a ferry arrive and went to the car- as I have mentioned the ferry loading is pretty lawless here so if you are not in your car you will lose your spot.  Lucky us we were in our car and the guys in front of us weren't - we had to drive around them, but not before the impatient people behind us thought they would go around both of us!  We made it on to the ferry with no problem- it was big one.  Went up and found a seat for our 2 hour ferry ride.  It felt like a short ride and soon Split was in view- we unloaded pretty quickly and were on the road to Zagreb. We made our way to the A1 and the main highway (thank goodness no more twisting, narrow roads!)  Making the 4 hour journey to Zagreb was pretty painless and fast.  We stopped once at one of the rest stops for lunch and then we were north bound.
Zagreb appeared and the directions we had actually took us to the right spot for check in at the apartment.  (There was certain amount of guessing as to what street we were on as a big city like Zagreb is no different to the small towns in that there are no street names- really??!)
Parking the car we carted our luggage the 2 blocks to the apartment and settled in- what a great place!  Camera on and we went to explore.  The location is great- we are 1 block away from the start of Zagreb's main square - Trg Bana Jelacica and from there the old town up on the hill.  We walked the little streets and saw some amazing sites- the St Mark's church- with it's incredible roof, the old gate to the city and the view from the top of Strossmayer - which appears to be the Monmatre of Zagreb, at the top of the funicular.
We stopped for a dinner at Pod Griokim Topom- a great traditional cuisine restaurant. Now Croatian service- firstly no matter if you are at a high end resaurant or not the service is awful- granted they don't get tips but the service is always the same; get seated give you a menu, come back take your order- drink and food at the same time; if you only order your drinks you may wait forever to get your food order in; when you get your drinks they disappear until the food arrives; once the food is served you are on your own- too bad if you need something else- the waiter is nowhere to be seen; then when you are done the plates will sit for a while and then they are cleared and you could sit up to an hour then- not with a dessert menu or anything just sit until you catch their eye and maybe get your bill!  It is strange and we heard that Croatia was at the bottom of all the European countries for service- not far off, which is so strange for a country where everyone is so friendly and willing to help and stop to chat!
Anyway- we then we strolled down to the square and home.  I like this city a lot!

Zagreb Cathedral

This clock stopped in an earthquake sometime in the 1700's

The tie was invented in Croatia- who knew!

Stone Gate

St Mark's Church

View from the top!

Main square

The apartment.