And so it came to pass......

The last day of holiday, packing is done and dusted, breakfast is eaten, and off we went into town for a last stroll; it didn't last long as we got to the second park to find an orchestra set up in the band stand ready to perform a 2 hour performance, chairs and umbrellas were available for this who wanted to watch and the band struck up - people watched, people danced and the band played on....

What a fitting way to spend a last morning in Zagreb ..... Till next time

Zagreb returned, and the tale of the toilet roll.....

By now we had been traveling in our trusty little Opel, living out out of suitcases and shopping bags, the car was covered in dust on the outside and covered with towels, shoes, swimming apparel, suitcases, shopping bags with leftover shopping, a large white dirty linen bag and numerous other bits of detritus from three weeks in a car..... and up to the front of the 5 star Regent hotel we drive......

Pam exits vehicle and enters hotel to check in.....
Hotel porter exits hotel to assist me....
Porter now stands with hands gently clasped on his chest with a pious look on his face befitting the best of bishops while i am now trying to pack our Chinese laundry on wheels into suitcases and laundry bag....
"we've been travelling for three weeks" I tell him by way of apology...
The porter stands and patiently watches.....
A procession of suitcases, shopping bags and laundry bag now proceeded to form a minor mountain on the hotel doorstep...
"we've been travelling for three weeks" I tell him again by way of apology...the porter stands and patiently watches.....

And now enters or should I rather say exits the bag of toilet rolls all over the front step of the hotel.... the porter stands and patiently watches.....
Frantic running around herding the toilet rolls and now emptying bags of rubbish from the car, the mountain grows ...."we've been travelling for three weeks" I tell him yet again by way of apology...the porter stands and patiently watches.....
By now a small convoy of cars is backed up behind me all waiting to discharge their very elegant occupants with equally elegant suitcases... And the toilets rolls, well they roll
Pam is sitting chatting away inside, I am sweating outside and so the loading of the porters trolley begins, I'm quite surprised it didn't break a wheel.
And in goes the mountain to stand side by side other far more elegant luggage in the foyer......

Did I mention.... "We've been travelling for three weeks you know...."

Back to Zagreb.......

Driving back was pretty uneventful, with a stop overnight in Žaborić at Villa Doni where we had stayed in on the way down, which was really great as we not only broke the trip but we got to swim again in the Adriatic the next morning and generally laze around a bit.
The road back to Zagreb was on the A1 highway - set the speed control to 130 and peddle down the road......

On the road again.... By car...

We set off yesterday morning by car to drive 135km from Zagreb to the PLitvička lakes, a large national park.

It didn't start well.... firstly it's a left hand drive and secondly a manual neither boded well, but set off we did with only one stall at the start, and my dear wife in tears of laughter at my skills - she who laughs first gets laughed at later when it's her time to drive, all is well as long as i remember a simple rule for turning corners - far left, close right, anyhow motoring right along stopping here and stopping there (trip should take about 2 hours took us 5)
Countryside is amazing - rolling hills and forests.
We stopped off at a war memorial at Turanj, very disturbing seeing the houses still pock-marked from the war and the tanks and tractor converted to be a tank, then into a small natural park with waterfalls.

We are now staying at a Sobe or guest house "Villa Mukinja" with our extremely friendly hosts Vlado and his assistant Helena.
Dinner was a rather large excellent affair, starting with a type of cottage cheese and carpaccio ham with rye bread, this was followed by a kebab of pork and lamb with sausages on the side and a tomato salad all local fair all washed down with a very good Croatian red wine.
And so to bed full happy and very tired.

Zagreb .....

I don't quite know how to say how much this city has grabbed me, firstly we are staying in the Regent Hotel in Zagreb, it is straight out of an Agatha Christie book.
Then the city.... It is amazingly beautiful , parks, small winding roads and cobbled streets, markets and trams.
Nothing I can really say here will ever fully express how amazing this city is.

Getting yourself around is interesting, when looking at the street names on the road and on the map nothing really matches up, so just look for something with an approximate number of letters or one that looks similar and off you go.
Street cafés are everywhere, so when the feet are weary, stop, have coffee and watch the people.
Sightseeing....we have been to the Cathedral, St Marks, up and down side streets, markets, and museums till our legs fairly dropped off, I could quite happily do with another couple of days to see more, too much to see too little time.

My bags are packed am ready to go, dont know when Ill be back again

Back on the road again or should I say the air, off to Croatia this time for a three week trip from Zagreb to Dubrovnic with lots of places in between.
We started by flying from Johannesburg to Frankfurt with Lufthansa on an A380 - absolutely incredibly big plane, can't say much about the flight as we both slept like babies all the way.

We took a quick trip into frankfurt for a wander around rather than sit in the airport.