At last… Croatia! We’ve heard so many 
wonderful things about this place and it was very exciting to finally arrive. Our first stop of three was Zagreb, Croatia’s capital.
Our journey did not have a very inspiring beginning… We took the bus from Budapest which took about 5 hours. It was great, we booked the front seats and (apart from a very young driver who was often on his phone and steering with his elbows) it was a comfortable drive.
Then we hit the border. The border patrol officers were well chosen for their role. Stern, unsmiling and unfriendly. The system was down, so maybe they were crankier than usual, so it resulted in everyone having to be processed manually which meant disembarking, handing over all the passports and standing in the hot sun for 45 minutes. We weren’t permitted to get back on the bus for any reason, even if it was to get some water. We were not informed of anything. I really felt for the elderly passengers… no comments please!
Anyway, we arrived safely in Zagreb, 
met our Airbnb host at the appointed time, dumped our luggage up the many stairs (as usual) and went exploring.
We immediately got lost.
In this instance, getting lost resulted in finding a gallery with a lovely courtyard restaurant. The food was amazing, the wine delicious and the waiter charming… even offering us some local knowledge (which was obviously much needed).
The city of Zagreb has lovely parks, large squares with plenty of seating for people/busker-watching, a gorgeous cathedral, trams everywhere you looked, a market in the main square, lovely restaurants & cafes and interesting shops.
The city was particularly beautiful at night due to the well-designed illumination of all the public areas.
We certainly got our steps up again on the many cobblestoned pathways and had a few rides on the trams. It was a hot 27 degrees, which meant of course that we needed to cool off with a few gelatos and icy cold drinks!
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