Blogs from Zagreb, Central Croatia, Croatia, Europe - page 21

The train rolled into Zagreb on track no. 1 about eight-thirty this morning. Our first task was to find out how to travel from the train station to the bus station as our destination was the Plitvice National Park. Plitvice was established as a national park in 1949 and in the '70's UNESCO declared it a world heritage site. The only way to get there is either to rent a car and drive, or take a bus. The trip is two to two and a half hours. Plitvice is near the Serbian border and it was here that the first shots were fired in the terrible war between Serbia, Croatia and others in the early '90's. I'll talk a bit more about that later. We went to the information desk. A young woman greeted us. "How ... read more

I remember the gritty, rattling trains, the communist planning and architecture, the bleakness, the eating horse by accident, and the longer-than-anticpated train from there to Budapest.... read more

Ljubiljana was a lunch stop en route from Rijecka and the Postonja Caves to Zagreb. What I knew most about Ljubljana was that it had been the home of my French language professor at university. He told us of his experiences there during World War II, his detention by the Germans, and how he had escaped to France with the coming of the Tito regime. Upon arriving in Zagreb, we checked in at the hostel Esplanade InterContiental. The Esplanade was an old continental style hotel that had been recently renovated by the InterContinental chain. Zagreb marked the end of the tour through Eastern Europe. Most sightseeing was spent in Gradec, the old town. Here were the interesting Palace of the Ban and the 14th century St. Mark's Church. The unique roof tiles on St. Mark's represent ... read more