Jack Frost Nipping at Your Nose

With a Croatian Fish

The only way in and out of Dubrovnik is by road or maybe by boat, but I didn’t consider that a real option. Since I don’t have a car, I took a bus to Split and then waited for the next train to Zagreb 4 hours later. I could have taken a direct bus from Dubrovnik to Zagreb but the Aussies have a Eurorail pass and can take the train for “free” so I took the same overly long route as them.

In Split we were looking for a coffee shop that also served food and wandered around for a really long time. There only seemed to be one or the other but no place that offered both. Eventually we stopped at a coffee shop and I tried another hot chocolate. Just as the hot chocolate in Belgrade it was a cup full of melted chocolate, so strong that I had to continually dilute it to make it drinkable. We didn’t really have anything planned to do in Split, but I did see a sign for McDonalds and decided to head there, Aussie’s call McDonalds “Mackers”. The Aussies keep trying to get me to use Aussie-isms but so far they have had no success.

Once in Zagreb we located our hostel and checked in. The hostel walls were covered with messages and quotes from previous occupants. My favorite was “Why didn’t the cat eat its food? Because it was nailed to the floor”. There were other less cruel things written such as “A tourist doesn’t know where they have been, a traveler doesn’t know where they are going”. I didn’t write anything, I never have anything clever to write in places like that. The best thing I was able to come up with was “Word, to the wise” but I didn’t feel that was worth the effort to write.

I went down to the common room in the basement of the hostel and was again offered Rakaia. I joined in with the people down there for a while and then they wanted to go out on the town. After a long day travelling and with only the first part of the next day to be able to experience Zagreb before heading to Ljubljana, I declined their invitation and went to bed. I know, I must really be getting old to decline going out, but that is what happened.

The next morning we headed out to have crepes for breakfast and then explore the city. An American girl from the hostel also joined us for the day but none of us ever knew her name. The American girl had been in Zagreb for a few days already and as such led us on a free private walking tour of the city. There was a festival of sorts going on for children complete with costumed characters, bounce houses, balloons and children singing. I love things designed for children, I was high fiving and posing with the characters and I wanted to go in the bounce houses but I was too big.

I have been seeing street vendors selling chestnuts for a while now and I had not yet tried them because they didn’t smell or look very good, but I finally tried them and they are amazing. The street vendors take the chestnuts and place them on top of hot coals and then pack them in towels to keep them warm. The outer shell easily peels away and delicious moist chestnuts are found inside. From now on I am going to be a one man street eating chestnut machine!

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