Time to split and get a breath of fresh air … literally. Headed north to Zagreb. The first part of this six hour drive was on the toll road. We always find that the toll roads are very mundane compared to their counterparts, but they do save a lot of time.
Probably the most interesting thing about this part of the journey was the tunnel that we went through that was almost 6 kms long. As we drove through the Rocky countryside we felt ourselves getting closer and closer to a huge behemoth mountain of rock. And then 6 kms of winding tunnel later, it was behind us and we were in a completely different landscape of green trees and almost forestland, which led into the National Park.
We stopped at one of the entrances to the Plitvcka National Park, thinking that we could buy some lunch and go for a stroll in some nice forestland. But (a) the food on offer was less than appealing (b) there was a queue a mile long to buy a ticket to go for a walk. Yes, that is right, each person must buy a ticket to go for a walk in the national park. And that ticket is only valid for the walk that you have chosen, for the time that is allocated to that walk, and for that day. If you get caught without a ticket you will collect a heavy fine. And judging by the queue, people are happy to pay for this pleasure in their thousands. No wonder the tourists in New Zealand think that our bush walks are so fantastic, they are free. Although it does makes you realize how slow we have been in NZ to maximize our tourism opportunities.
We had a pleasant drive for the rest of the journey to Zagreb, and our accommodation. When we arrived we wondered what we had done. From the outside the place looked like an extremely rundown hostel, but we proved once again that you can’t judge a book by its cover. The room was huge (or was that just comparative to Split? We can swing a cat … holding onto a cat in this room), big bed, decent sized bathroom and shower, with hot water to boot. We are staying at a hostel on the edge of town. It actually feels like a small little village that has been absorbed into the edge of the city, but it still has that village feel, it doesn’t feel like suburbia at all.
We are 7 kms out from the centre of the city, a city with a population of 1 million. This makes you realize just how sprawling Auckland is. We have 1.2 million and we have a radius of a bout 40 km.
We noticed through the later part of our trip, how the structure and architecture of the hoses had changed. It feels like it has more of an Austrian/Hungarian influence here. More stand alone houses with steeply pitched rooflines and window boxes.
After settling in we drove into town for a walk around and dinner. Very nice old centre, with a huge old cathedral. Trams seem to be the preferred public transport and from all appearances they provide a very efficient service. There are a lot of churches and museums here, and we intend to have a proper taste of these tomorrow. We also came across a theatre, where they have several plays in current production. They look very interesting and we would love to see one, but not sure if our lack of understanding of the nuances of the local language and dialect would give us a proper appreciation or even basic knowledge of what was going on.
Zagreb doesn’t seem as touristy as the coast where we have come from, and this is reflected in the prices. We were under the impression that Croatia would be cheap, but this couldn’t have been more wrong, until now. This is particularly evident with the food. The prices of food here in Zagreb are about 60% of what we have been paying since we first arrived in Croatia. This is a pleasant surprise. Although paying 360 kn for a tank of diesel still sounds really bad.
Probably the most interesting thing about this part of the journey was the tunnel that we went through that was almost 6 kms long. As we drove through the Rocky countryside we felt ourselves getting closer and closer to a huge behemoth mountain of rock. And then 6 kms of winding tunnel later, it was behind us and we were in a completely different landscape of green trees and almost forestland, which led into the National Park.
We stopped at one of the entrances to the Plitvcka National Park, thinking that we could buy some lunch and go for a stroll in some nice forestland. But (a) the food on offer was less than appealing (b) there was a queue a mile long to buy a ticket to go for a walk. Yes, that is right, each person must buy a ticket to go for a walk in the national park. And that ticket is only valid for the walk that you have chosen, for the time that is allocated to that walk, and for that day. If you get caught without a ticket you will collect a heavy fine. And judging by the queue, people are happy to pay for this pleasure in their thousands. No wonder the tourists in New Zealand think that our bush walks are so fantastic, they are free. Although it does makes you realize how slow we have been in NZ to maximize our tourism opportunities.
We had a pleasant drive for the rest of the journey to Zagreb, and our accommodation. When we arrived we wondered what we had done. From the outside the place looked like an extremely rundown hostel, but we proved once again that you can’t judge a book by its cover. The room was huge (or was that just comparative to Split? We can swing a cat … holding onto a cat in this room), big bed, decent sized bathroom and shower, with hot water to boot. We are staying at a hostel on the edge of town. It actually feels like a small little village that has been absorbed into the edge of the city, but it still has that village feel, it doesn’t feel like suburbia at all.
We are 7 kms out from the centre of the city, a city with a population of 1 million. This makes you realize just how sprawling Auckland is. We have 1.2 million and we have a radius of a bout 40 km.
We noticed through the later part of our trip, how the structure and architecture of the hoses had changed. It feels like it has more of an Austrian/Hungarian influence here. More stand alone houses with steeply pitched rooflines and window boxes.
After settling in we drove into town for a walk around and dinner. Very nice old centre, with a huge old cathedral. Trams seem to be the preferred public transport and from all appearances they provide a very efficient service. There are a lot of churches and museums here, and we intend to have a proper taste of these tomorrow. We also came across a theatre, where they have several plays in current production. They look very interesting and we would love to see one, but not sure if our lack of understanding of the nuances of the local language and dialect would give us a proper appreciation or even basic knowledge of what was going on.
Zagreb doesn’t seem as touristy as the coast where we have come from, and this is reflected in the prices. We were under the impression that Croatia would be cheap, but this couldn’t have been more wrong, until now. This is particularly evident with the food. The prices of food here in Zagreb are about 60% of what we have been paying since we first arrived in Croatia. This is a pleasant surprise. Although paying 360 kn for a tank of diesel still sounds really bad.
No comments:
Post a Comment