Croatia blog …
In writing this Croatia blog, we realised that having been to Croatia a number of times, including when it was part of Yugoslavia, this time around we wanted to explore the larger part of the country that lies inland, and especially we wanted to visit the capital, Zagreb.
During our tour, we met a self confessed British Royal Family obsessive, an Albanian taxi driver that would very much like to meet a nice girl 🙂, a family of Italian pipe smoking cyclists and a car mad, tractor fixing, campsite owner.
Getting to Croatia
With us having really struggled to get into the EU, it was fantastic to see that once in, how easy it is to get around. Travelling from Romania into Hungary and then down to Croatia couldn’t have been much easier. The border between Romania and Hungary took at most 15 minutes (they’re both in the EU, although Romania is not within the Schengen area), and from there, there are no borders, due to the countries being within the Schengen area.
Clearly there are huge advantages to being able to travel between countries in this way – take note Brexiteers 🤨
Osijek
Travelling to Osijek in eastern Croatia was a bit surprising! Much of our experience of the country was based around the dramatic cliffs along the coast. Here in the east of the country, you’d struggle to see a hill, never mind a cliff. It’s very beautiful all the same, just totally unexpected. We’d assumed that, being in the Balkans, it too would be mountainous, but it appears that the east, like Hungary, is pretty flat.
We chose Osijek fairly randomly as a place to stay, like we often do! It was just over the border and we knew that we had a fairly long drive through several countries and borders to get to it. It also appeared to be a fairly provincial town that we hoped would give us some experience of how Croatians lived throughout non-touristy areas.
Unbeknown to us though was that the main roads in and out of the centre were currently under construction. So whilst it looked to be a pretty place, sitting in a café with pneumatic drilling going on wasn’t what I’d hoped for – it didn’t however stop many of the locals enjoying a cuppa though!!
Camping in Osijek
So we found a little campsite just outside of the town, set between fields of tomatoes, and set up camp – it was 38°C! Later in the day, as I was sitting in the shade updating this website, a family of Italians rocked up in a camper van. Turns out that they’re keen cyclists – nice! I asked them if they wanted to share the shady table I was sat at – ‘No, we can’t, sorry, we’re smoking pipes!’ Lol, pipe smoking cyclists! Bizarre! Coincidentally, we met up at another camp site a few days later too! And there they were again, smoking pipes!
It was at the camp site that we met our royal-loving friend! – she ran the reception there. Here’s a picture of her:
She freely admitted, in perfect English, that it was highly unusual for a Croatian to be so obsessed with the British Royal family – not just any royals, only the British Royals. I must say though, that she knew far more about them than we did! She loved ‘the crown‘ and could quote from it! Apparently she got so upset when the Queen died that it was like her own grandmother had died, she said! She was annoyed at Harry and Megan! It’s just amazing that a Croatian who’d never even been to the UK could be such a fanatic! Bless her! She was really lovely too … so whatever makes her happy! 🙂 Hopefully one day she can get to London and go see the sights and Buckingham palace and the Tower etc, and hopefully see some Royals!
Zagreb, Capital of Croatia
We could have driven two ways to Zagreb – following the border with Bosnia & Herzegovina or taking the more northernly route following the Hungarian border, We chose the latter in order to see Mount Medvednica. It sits in a pretty national park and is about the same height as Scafell in the Lake District in England.
Zagreb used to be two cities apparently, and now is one – but it has the distinct feeling of two cities still. Certainly the old town is very different from the rest of Zagreb, but the whole city also has a slightly unusual disjointed feel about it – it’s definitely different from most other capital cities that we’ve been to.
It looks quiet in these photos, but it was 38°C, so many were indoors or keeping to the shade. In the evening it really livened up a lot. We really like Croatia because it’s so easy – everything is easy to find, and it’s so well set up for tourism, e.g. we went to a burger restaurant that had six types of vegetarian / vegan burgers to choose from!
We rented an apartment a couple of miles outside of the centre of Zagreb that had a lovely balcony overlooking the luscious gardens. Due to the heat we booked a taxi using the BOLT app that we got in Estonia! Iris (see pic below) picked us up.
An interesting taxi ride
‘What do you think of Croatia?’ he asked, after a brief chat. ‘I love it!’, I said. ‘It’s shit!’, he joked! Lol! Turns out that he’s from Albania and is working long hours earning some pretty decent wages. After a lengthy chat with Iris, it’s apparent that he’s more than very keen to get hooked up with one of the many beautiful women that he sees every day! He’s a funny guy, and he respects his family, so if you’re reading this, and you’re from Zagreb, call him via BOLT – he’ll really appreciate it! 🙂 When I told him I’d take his picture for this website, he made himself look all smart, bless him!
Plitvička lakes
Wow, Plitvička lakes national park is awesome, the colours in the water are truly stunning! It costs €40 + parking fee for the day (2023), but is well worth it. All transport is included – boats, coaches. You can get on and off wherever you like. It’s massive – we spent an entire day walking around the lakes on the different tiers, and we didn’t see it all. It’s the largest and oldest natural park in Croatia, and is comprised of many, many waterfalls and lakes, all connected via a network of lovely natural paths through forests. Well worth a visit!
Camping in Zalužnica
After a long hot day, we piled back into the car and sauntered off to another campsite some way away in the countryside – Zalužnica. Turns out that the owner is car mad. He couldn’t get enough of our car – kept asking for lots of stats – bhp, acceleration times etc. I guess that people don’t normally turn up in a Golf GTI to his camp site. He’s engine mad it seems, as his farmer neighbour called on him to fix the engine on his tractor too. We went over to see if we could help, but he had it more than covered. He’s a degree qualified engineer – nice!
The Croatian coast
Croatia’s coast is awesome! Ever since I was a kid I’ve thought this. Some of my fondest childhood memories are here. It’s always amazing!
Pula, Croatia
Pula is the home to a number of really well preserved Roman antiquities, most notably the Arena and the Temple of Augustus. Every evening, the whole town becomes very lively around all of the outdoor restaurants and cafés – in particular surrounding the base of the castle. Definitely worth a visit.
