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Published: September 15th 2011
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Kojak
An impressive monument in the main square of Maribior to local soldiers who had lost their lives in the Balkan conflicts EASTERN EUROPE AWAITS
We left Vienna and headed south for Slovenia and our first taste of the formerly communist Eastern Europe. Slovenia was the first of the Balkan states to become independent, it is in the north close to Austria and independence was achieved without widespread bloodshed. There was no border control as we passed from Austria to Slovenia which was a bit of a surprise.
We drove about 20 minutes before we stopped at the town of Maribor for lunch. It is off the main tourist route and it was nice to visit a ‘normal’ Slovenian town. We started at the central square which has ‘Kojak’ –a monument to those from the area who had lost their lives in the conflict.
We wandered down to the river and then had lunch with Doug and Linda (a couple from Sydney –tragic Parramatta supporters) Just a toasted sandwich and a drink, as we watched people go about their normal lives. A gypsy came through asking for money for her child but the waiters quickly shooed her away. We had already been warned there were Gypsy’s in the area and also people impersonating Police Officers to get people to hand over
Maribor Slovenia
A nice town off the beaten tourist track - an ideal lunch stop. their Passports – out of our comfort zone now for sure!
CROSSING THE BORDER
As we approached the border crossing from Slovenia to Croatia we were pretty nervous, Brendan gave us the standard run down –look straight ahead, don’t engage with the guards – just answer yes sir/no sir, definitely don’t try and be smart or clever. The bus is fully air conditioned but sure most people were sweating a bit! In the end on the Slovenia side an officer came through the coach inspecting each passport – she definitely wasn’t your stereotypical eastern European border guard. She was young and attractive and even showed the hint of a smile a couple of times. It could be a trick-eyes to the front, hand over passport say nothing unless spoken to!
The Slovenians were obviously happy with the coach so we progressed just up the road to the Croatian border station – still sweating! This time we had to get off the bus in an orderly fashion, go to a booth and present our passports the get back on the bus over the border. At the time it was nerve wracking stuff, but in reality everything went very smoothly.
Communist accomdation
Just one of what seemed to us like an endless number of poorly constructed, horrible looking apartment blocks as we entered Zagreb So we were off heading to Zagreb descending into the ‘Eastern Block’ for the first time.
ZAGREB
The architecture definitely changed, from the spectacular buildings of Heidelberg, Innsbruck and Vienna to communist grey, concrete block very poorly made and maintained apartments as we approached Zagreb. Zagreb must be the graffiti capital of the world – it was everywhere! Some graffiti could almost be considered art – but not this stuff, most is just squiggles sprayed on by a black spray can. Obviously no one cleans it off and the graffiti is a real embarrassment for the city.
On the trip in we heard that Dynamo Zagreb had a home Champions League qualifier against one of the world’s elite football teams Real Madrid. There was some concern about the traffic and what effect the extra people in town would have. How great it would have been to get tickets to the match but no chance.
Later in the afternoon we did a bus/walking tour of the lower and central city. More graffiti, some nice old buildings, some of the architects who had worked elsewhere in Europe (Vienna, Budapest etc) also did work in Zagreb. However, overwhelmingly the grey
Nice church
There were some nice old buildings in Zagreb city centre but they have a massive problem with grafitti that spoils much of the city. depressing concrete arm of communism had left its ugly stain on the cityscape. Originally Zagreb was two towns set on neighbouring hills and separated by a river (the river has now been closed over and runs underground) – after a day on the bus and in 30 degree heat without a breath of wind our guide took us to the top of both towns, back to the city centre and then to the restaurant where we would have our evening meal. It was particularly tough on some of our group who needed to rest along the way. No one could really concentrate on what the guide was saying – just too hot, to be fair unlike our other local guides she never really engaged the group.
For all the above our hotel The Sheraton Zagreb was outstanding. We dined at a restaurant owned by two former Croatian soldiers – it was Ok but we were hot tired and just wanted to get back to base. We walked the 15 minutes back to the hotel with two other couples, missed one turn but looped around to get to the hotel just in time to watch the big game. The air was much cooler and the walk back to the hotel very pleasant.
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