Dearest readers: please accept my sincere apologies for my delay in posting about Croatia. It’s not you, it’s not Croatia, it’s me– I’m blaming it on the lack of WiFi for the SEVEN hours we were on a bus Tuesday. Croatia is winning both in the World Cup and in our estimation, and I am excited to tell you more!
Day 11: Travel to Zagreb
Travel from Budapest to Zagreb was the easiest– we hopped on a FlixBus in Budapest and hopped off five hours in Zagreb. That bus had free WiFi, spoiling all future basic bus rides for me forever, and a bathroom. We walked about a mile to our AirBNB, bought some groceries, made some dinner (grilled cheese and Dalmation tomato soup) watched some World Cup. Beautiful.
Day 12: 24 Hours in Zagreb
I can’t be the only one who reads those wonderful New York Times 24 Hours in XYZ city. Well, we basically wrote our own/lived it on Saturday for Zagreb. I should also mention that Croatia was playing Russia at 8 PM on a Saturday that night, so nationalism (aka tourists in Croatian flag gear) was in full force.
The Mirogoj Cemetery
This cemetery was beautiful. Cemeteries are fascinating places to learn histories of an area. While predominantly Christian, the Mirogoj Cemetery has the distinction of interring individuals and families from a myriad of faith backgrounds including Jews, Muslims, Catholics, Protestants, and those who consider themselves irreligious. There was also a memorial and mass grave for more than 2,000 Croatian soldiers killed in World War I. Heartbreaking.
The Zagreb Cathedral
The gothic-style Zagreb Cathedral is the tallest building in all of Croatia. The church is so old that it was destroyed by Mongrols in 1242 only to be re-built again, with a wall this time, several years later. It experienced some earthquake damage in an 1880 earthquake, but it seemed that its greatest threat was really surviving through years of neglect and disrepair when Croatia was part of communist Yugoslavia.
The Museum of Broken Relationships
Yes, really. So the idea behind this museum is that we pay tribute to past history, civilizations, buildings, etc., but we do not always honor the most personal, and perhaps most deeply felt, losses in our lives and the lives of others when relationships end. Every obect in the museum was voluntarily donated along with a personal narrative. Some were funny, some were dark, all were moving.
People: Broken, deep, resilient, beautiful.
The Golden Horseshoe and Botanical GarDens
Zagreb is green and has plentiful parks and outdoor spaces. They even have public workout equipment for adults!
Soccer in Plaza Ban Jelacic
I’m sure referring to Croatia’s World Cup game as soccer is about as insulting as referring to the University of Georgia’s appearance in the National Championship and the Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl Victory as “some football.”
We decided to take all of it in by watching the Croatia v. Russia quarterfinal World Cup game in the largest of squares in Croatia. After all, we had watched Germany’s World Cup game at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and Italy’s Olympic appearance in Rome.
Mistake. Big Mistake. Huge.
First, the average age of the crowd was at least ten, if not fifteen years, younger than us. When I buy a beer, especially on my limited travel-for-a-year-on-savings budget, I intend to drink it. When our Croatian World Cup watchers bought beer, they might drink it or they might get so overcome singing along with a terrific pre-game anthem that they take the full beer and heave it cup and all into the air above the crowd.
Russia scored first. I could not actually see the game from my spot in the crowd, but I did see grown men cry.
BUT WHEN CROATIA SCORED- actual fire torch flame things, sparklers, air horns, all the beer thrown in the air, all at once. I started thinking about the anatomy of a human stampede (anyone else read this terrifying 2011 New Yorker article?) If you are not following us on Instagram, you should just to watch our saved Instagram story from Zagreb.
In our twenties, we absolutely would have stayed for the entire game. Thankfully, in our thirties, we walked home quickly and watched Croatia win in a shoot out from the comfort of our Air BNB.
Day 13: Travel to Rovinj
Hopped on the bus- no Wifi- but still easy breezy ride to Rovinj. The trip from Rovinj to the AirBNB? Not so easy.
So our backpacks are about 20 lbs a piece these days. I also carry a purse and whatever novels we are reading; Rich carries a smaller daypack with toiletries, first aid, odds and ends, etc. Our packs are SUPER manageable on short walks.
The problem was our AirBNB was 5 kilometers (~3+ miles) from the bus station, and we decided we would walk it.
I’ll sum it up to say it was super challenging, but we were troopers who persevered with positive attitudes. Our AirBNB was beautiful when we got there, and we treated ourselves to a Croation Italian pasta feast with 1L of house wine.
And after our pasta, we napped! For four hours. Four hours worth of sleep is still a nap, right? All is well that ends well.
Day 14: Relaxation in Rovinj!
So we loved Rovinj and wish we had booked on extra day there. As we mentioned, the town was a bit far from our AirBNB so once we were out we stayed out. We managed to log about 11 miles of walking during the day by the time we made it back home.
Quick highlights:
- Until 1947, Rovinj was Rovigno, a part of Venice. Italian influences abound from the delicious pizza we ate for lunch to the colorful buildings reminiscient of other Italian fishing villages to the fact that the town is bilingual and you hear locals shouting Ciao to each other as you walk down the street.
- Want to swim? Find a rock or some grass by the sea. You will see Croatians swimming everywhere. We started on rocks in the morning and found a nice grassy spot in the local state park after lunch.
- The speed in Rovinj is chill. It felt like being at the Jersey Shore or Kiawah Island. People on holiday with no cares.
- We had a bomb backyard at our AirBNB. I used basil from the garden to make pesto that we ate on pasta sitting outside our last night. Perfection.
Until next time, Ciao!