Hi All, Saturday, May 28, 2005
Saturday was up early and took train from Budapest to Zagreb.
The train ride down, normally about 5 hours, was a beautiful ride thru the
Croatian countryside. I decided to go first class, only $15 more, but worth it
to splurge. About an hour out of Zagreb, the conductor said we must transfer to
a bus for the last hour!! hmmmm...I argued a little, he kept saying
?Everybawdy goes!! Everybody goes!!? A dutch group and I had fun repeating
that on the bus...?Everybawdy goes!! After awhile, the conductor was my buddy,
?a Amerikanski? my brother is in Chicago, he kept saying.
Zagreb is the capitol city of Croatia. A shot of the cathedral in downtown is
shown here. Yep, I have run into a lot of scaffolding, oh well.
Zagreb has a nice downtown square, large market area and old city walls. I
strolled around the city and found then main district, caught some pizza and
beer. It was a surprise town, most tourist just pass through, I had the chance
to takek some time to see it.
I?m staying at the youth hostel just out of town, a 20 minute tram ride through
the outskirts of town. The hostel is a great one, located in a small village,
and family run. The village Im in has the classic socialist era housing, high
rise apartments. Small market and restaurant. Its a contrast to the new,
booming Croatia.
I will stay here two nights, visit the Plitvice lakes National park, and fly
down to Dubrovnik on Monday to begin island hopping up the southern Dalmation
coast.
I?ll be back with report on National park tour next blog
Yours in travel,
Bill
