Haunted by the rain
Trip Start
Apr 08, 2007
1
60
144
Trip End
Oct 01, 2007
Zagreb,
Croatia
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Somewhat comically, the local tourist office is still handing out the same pamphlet/map that they were in 1998. Sure, it's probably been upgraded a little (though I really didn't notice a difference), but it's otherwise pretty much identical to the one I used last time I was in town
Trg Kralja Tomislava
. So I can't even honestly say that I saw anything new today, but I guess that can't be expected much when you have little more than an afternoon and evening to take it all in. Honestly though, the highlights don't require much more than a day and, though the nightlife has grown considerably in recent years according to most sources, I just didn't feel like settling in for a couple nights in what is largely considered one of Eastern Europe's pricier cities. Staying in a hostel that was a 20-30 minute tram ride out of the city didn't help much either (especially when you're stuck in a stuffy room with no AC or even good ventilation).Zagreb's pretty and almost thoroughly Austro-Hungarian in feel though. The dominant Baroque and Neo-Classicism is easy on the eye, if a bit pompous and grandiose at times, and the old town makes for a pleasing wander. I ended up doing about half the walking tour with a Bostonian girl I ran into along the way who was also staying at my hostel. She's a very well-traveled person, so we found plenty to talk about as we looked around. It's nice to have a little change from the usual routine of looking through urban backstreets quietly and unaccompanied. It was also more fun getting caught like a moron out in the pouring rain with someone else when a sudden downpour started in the park.
Yes, it rained yet again
Typical Zagreb architecture
. I don't get it. I've thought through the past few weeks of the trip and I'm pretty sure that since I left Patras, I've had a whopping three days where there wasn't any precipitation. One day in Naples (though it was partly cloudy), one day in Turin (partly cloudy again) and one day in Ljubljana (yesterday). Sure, not all of the days saw outright downpours, but there's been at least an annoying bit of drizzle sometime in each. When will it end?I'm off to Bosnia tomorrow. I was originally planning on heading straight for Sarajevo, but there's this small town along the way called Jajce that I was really wanting to check out while I was in the area. There's no direct transport from Zagreb to there and it's really too far from Sarajevo to do as a daytrip, so I'm stopping off in Banja Luka for one night and just doing it from there. Once that's done, I'll be going straight for the capital to hopefully take it easy for several nights and soak in the atmosphere. Here I go southwards. . .
