The castle well.
The destination.
It's not the glass but what's in the glass.
Gail at the Zagreb Botanical Gardens.Journeys of Note
We travelled to Zagreb by train from Ljubljana. Before we reached the Croatian border, we were joined in our compartment by a large man from Serbia carrying a big suitcase that wouldn’t close. We figured that it was the barrel of a bazooka! At the border, the Croatian customs simply glanced at our passports but he received a thorough search - all in our small cabin for 6. It turned out that it was not a bazooka but a whipper snipper in pieces. A most interesting journey.
Zagreb was wonderful. Great accommodation in a private room in a central location…. With the 2 most popular things - a frig and good washing lines.
The cathedral was beautiful and we enjoyed the many public monuments. We even rode the free tourist train to save our legs. The city was alive with special events and performances everywhere. We enjoyed Croatian music and dance performed in a lovely park.
We decided to make a special journey to Zagreb Castle. This is rarely attempted without a private car. We took a tram to the end of the line and then a bus up the mountain with its many hairpin bends and twists and turns until we finally alighted in the small town of Sestine.
With help from a few local people, we set off through the forest following a track next to a small stream. Up and up we climbed. After about 1 ½ hours, they continued on their hike and we turned up towards the castle. One of the men in the group was surprised we were going to the castle. “Why would you want to go there? It isn’t finished” Did he mean the restorations?
Another in the group, having heard we came from Australia, asked us did we have a kangaroo for a pet and was surprised when we said no.
Finally arriving at the castle, we knew it was the journey that really mattered and not the destination. We had enjoyed the beautiful “bush” walk.
After a few photos on the ramparts and some of the very distant views of Zagreb, we headed back. This time, we followed a different path. Finally we arrived in a village… but it wasn’t Sestine. Our return bus didn’t go from wherever we were, so we had to walk to the correct village. We caught the bus and tram and returned to our room exhausted.
We enjoyed the journey…. and the destination.
PS. Sorry we don’t have a picture of the bazooka
2 comments:
Sounds like an interesting walk. I would have been unhappy to zrrive at the wrong village!
We were offered a pet kangaroo once remember. You wouldn't let us have it! Something about 10 cats, a pony and several tortoises already...
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