Zagreb/Split, Croatia
We arrived in Zagreb in rain. The road was good. In Slovenia we quite frequently paid tolls. We crossed the border to Croatia and got our passports stamped. Then paid another toll. Croatia has Kuna money but they took 1 eur.
It is hard to drive in Zagreb. Small streets where 3 lines in each direction are also shared with trams. Impatient drivers who beep you on yellow light (in Croatia, the light changes from red to yellow and then to green). We navigated successfully to our hotel, GPS again did not let us down. We parked at hotel's garage.
Sheraton is 5* business hotel in the center of town, good location. After our last night fiasco and bad weather George is a bit let down.
At least this is 5* hotel with all convenience and comfort of Starwood, which we are preferred guests. We got a room at preferred guest floor but I do not know what privileges on this floor...
We walked to the center, Jelacic square. We went to the recommended restaurant Vinodol for lunch. We were not impressed with food. After lunch, we took funicular to Gradec (medieval old town) and walked there. Croatian president works there in Sabor. Not like our president, not that much security.. The buildings were interesting but they are still in process in being restored and there is a lot's of graffiti. Zagreb has great architecture, built by the same architects who built Vienna , in Austro-Hungarian empire. But being under Tito many years and then there was the war so you really need to see beyond a neglected buildings. Cathedral was beautiful but half of it is closed , one tower under renovation.. You can see beautiful church or building and to it next a delapidated one. To me it is an interesting city. To George and maybe to other American travelers, it does not stir his imagination. He likes impressive European cities, which are clean and filled with beautifully dressed people, theaters and good museums. Paris is his favorite. So to sell him Zagreb was hard. He said he liked some parts of Zagreb but overall not that interested. What is bizarre, we like to explore food markets so we had some fun there..
We called a day and went to Sheraton and rested in a pool. After lunch at Vinodol we were not hungry so we ate salad and tea at cafe in Sheraton.
Next day, the sun was shining. We returned the car and afterwards went in the lower part of the city which was developed in 1800 and it has Renaissance and post-renassance building, "Green horseshoe " which is a series of beautiful parks and Zagreb finally started to grow on us. We took a ride in tourist train but mostly were local people with kids there.. The tour is silent. They really need to do a better job to attract and keep tourists. A young Croatian woman with a child sitting next to me on the train explained to me sites! She concurred that restorations are taking too long.
We also witnessed a silent demonstration in the main square. It was a commemoration of victims of Vukovo when Serbs executed people who could not flee the city, mainly bedridden people in hospital. The town was completely destroyed. The Serb's officers were convicted by tribunal in Hague on Sept 27 (yesterday). They were obviously not punished enough (and one even acquitted) as Croatians hoped. So the war is over but nation is still recovering from pshycological wounds..
We had a nice walk and city and it's people gradually grew on us. We bought some fruit at the market and I had not tasted such delicious apples and grapes for any years.
Evening was to do some work in the business center (free Internet connection there), and we had a quick dinner at hotel's restaurant.
Next day we went for breakfast in nearby bakery. The baking goods are delicious and breakfast cost about 3 eur, comparing with 20 eur breakfast at Sheraton.
After breakfast we took a last walk around hotel before our 2pm flight to Split. I found a good store with Sisley and Benetton clothes and did some shopping.
Otherwise, it is not much to shop in either Slovenia or Croatia. Except some delicious jams we could not find much shopping,
We took taxi to airport . The flight was delayed 1 hr without any explanation. I realized that that was a mistake to returning car and fly to Split (45 min flight). The taxi driver told us the highway to Split is in good shape now and ride takes 4 hrs. We would rather drive... But anyway we made to Split around 3:30pm and took taxi to our Le Meridien Lav Hotel about 10km from downtown Split , in Podstrana. It is a stunning new hotel in the form of the ship by the sea, most rooms have wonderful seaviews and nice beach (but gravel), huge pools (indoor and outdoor ), and nice marina for promenade.
The lobbies, restaurants and spa are very stylish. They must have had some problems with acoustics so nice music was overlapping from different sources . Or it could be just place we were sitting at.
We had dinner at hotel's restaurant, it was quite good and lately we've been sticking to local seafood.. The hotel has design so from the sea it looks like a ship, it is quite spectacular .
They have free shuttle to and old town and Diocletian Palace so we will be exploring it tomorrow.
The Split is second largest city after Zagreb located in south, on Dalmatian coast on Adriatic sea. The landscape is sea and Mediterranean although it is Adriatic. Palms remind us our home in Florida..
The interest to the tourist is that the old town is built within bounds of Diocletian Palace. It said to have some Roman ruins on Adriatic. Roman Emperor Diocleatian was born nearby in Salonia and became Emperor. He wanted to build huge palace in Split for his retirement. The palace never been completed although it took 11 years to build and many slaves to die on construction. Therefore since emperor never moved in, the locals used it' bounds to live therein Old town. So Old Town is actually within bounds of the Palace.
Next morning we had a breakfast, which was included in the price and it was general buffet spread.
The weather was very nice and warm, just like Mediterranean in fall. We took hotel's free shuttle to Split. It was sunny, blue sky, and the setup of the palace was spectacular. It has a lot's of nooks and crannies to explore. I was armed with books and maps so I think we did OK. The thing is do not expect Palace, but ruins. The Palace was abandoned and used by common folks. It has a lot's of build-in buildings. I wish they forbade construction. You can see some Venetian elements besides Roman but also so many hodge-podge built-up as people moved in. I've seen many people asked "where are the rooms of the palace?". There are none, just use your imagination how Diocletian must have lived. One area had a round room without coupole (was destroyed in medieval wars) but acoustics was incredible. There was a trio singing dalmatian sngs.
We also walked seafront promenade and sat on the sun. We had nice seafood lunch in the Diocletian Palace. We sampled local gelato on the street, called "sladoled" (in Slavic languages means "sweet ice"). In the afternoon we got a return ride on a shuttle back to hotel.
We liked people watching. Young Croatians are so tall and good looking!
On the way in the shuttle the driver was trying to flirt with a young russian lady. He did not speak Russian and she did not speak English nor Croatian. George offered them to translate and of course he killed the deal. :-)
We rested at hotel and went to cash our complimentary 10 eur gift card at casino. Turned out that with this 10eur card you need also to add your own 10 eur but - they give you one extra chip. Yeah right. We are not gamblers but since they lured us to the casino, George played Blackjack and won 10 eur. So we are ahead 10 eur. Then I promptly lost it in slot machine. We still had 5 eur chip left and wanted to put it on red color roulette. But they told us this is a gift chip (read: cheap chip) and we can ony bet on certain number. We put 13 - the number my husband avoids like plague and of course lost. We must as well throw away that chip but at least we tried that chance.
We had nice walk on the Le Meridien Marina , the weather was warm and sunny and people swam on the beach and in the pool but for us it was too cold to swim. We had Ok dinner but beautifully presented and well served by friendly staff. This is very nice hotel but they still need to iron out some wrinkles in service but they fixed problems promptly with a smile.
We are off tomorrow to Dubrovnik.
It is hard to drive in Zagreb. Small streets where 3 lines in each direction are also shared with trams. Impatient drivers who beep you on yellow light (in Croatia, the light changes from red to yellow and then to green). We navigated successfully to our hotel, GPS again did not let us down. We parked at hotel's garage.
Sheraton is 5* business hotel in the center of town, good location. After our last night fiasco and bad weather George is a bit let down.
At least this is 5* hotel with all convenience and comfort of Starwood, which we are preferred guests. We got a room at preferred guest floor but I do not know what privileges on this floor...
We walked to the center, Jelacic square. We went to the recommended restaurant Vinodol for lunch. We were not impressed with food. After lunch, we took funicular to Gradec (medieval old town) and walked there. Croatian president works there in Sabor. Not like our president, not that much security.. The buildings were interesting but they are still in process in being restored and there is a lot's of graffiti. Zagreb has great architecture, built by the same architects who built Vienna , in Austro-Hungarian empire. But being under Tito many years and then there was the war so you really need to see beyond a neglected buildings. Cathedral was beautiful but half of it is closed , one tower under renovation.. You can see beautiful church or building and to it next a delapidated one. To me it is an interesting city. To George and maybe to other American travelers, it does not stir his imagination. He likes impressive European cities, which are clean and filled with beautifully dressed people, theaters and good museums. Paris is his favorite. So to sell him Zagreb was hard. He said he liked some parts of Zagreb but overall not that interested. What is bizarre, we like to explore food markets so we had some fun there..
We called a day and went to Sheraton and rested in a pool. After lunch at Vinodol we were not hungry so we ate salad and tea at cafe in Sheraton.
Next day, the sun was shining. We returned the car and afterwards went in the lower part of the city which was developed in 1800 and it has Renaissance and post-renassance building, "Green horseshoe " which is a series of beautiful parks and Zagreb finally started to grow on us. We took a ride in tourist train but mostly were local people with kids there.. The tour is silent. They really need to do a better job to attract and keep tourists. A young Croatian woman with a child sitting next to me on the train explained to me sites! She concurred that restorations are taking too long.
We also witnessed a silent demonstration in the main square. It was a commemoration of victims of Vukovo when Serbs executed people who could not flee the city, mainly bedridden people in hospital. The town was completely destroyed. The Serb's officers were convicted by tribunal in Hague on Sept 27 (yesterday). They were obviously not punished enough (and one even acquitted) as Croatians hoped. So the war is over but nation is still recovering from pshycological wounds..
We had a nice walk and city and it's people gradually grew on us. We bought some fruit at the market and I had not tasted such delicious apples and grapes for any years.
Evening was to do some work in the business center (free Internet connection there), and we had a quick dinner at hotel's restaurant.
Next day we went for breakfast in nearby bakery. The baking goods are delicious and breakfast cost about 3 eur, comparing with 20 eur breakfast at Sheraton.
After breakfast we took a last walk around hotel before our 2pm flight to Split. I found a good store with Sisley and Benetton clothes and did some shopping.
Otherwise, it is not much to shop in either Slovenia or Croatia. Except some delicious jams we could not find much shopping,
We took taxi to airport . The flight was delayed 1 hr without any explanation. I realized that that was a mistake to returning car and fly to Split (45 min flight). The taxi driver told us the highway to Split is in good shape now and ride takes 4 hrs. We would rather drive... But anyway we made to Split around 3:30pm and took taxi to our Le Meridien Lav Hotel about 10km from downtown Split , in Podstrana. It is a stunning new hotel in the form of the ship by the sea, most rooms have wonderful seaviews and nice beach (but gravel), huge pools (indoor and outdoor ), and nice marina for promenade.
The lobbies, restaurants and spa are very stylish. They must have had some problems with acoustics so nice music was overlapping from different sources . Or it could be just place we were sitting at.
We had dinner at hotel's restaurant, it was quite good and lately we've been sticking to local seafood.. The hotel has design so from the sea it looks like a ship, it is quite spectacular .
They have free shuttle to and old town and Diocletian Palace so we will be exploring it tomorrow.
The Split is second largest city after Zagreb located in south, on Dalmatian coast on Adriatic sea. The landscape is sea and Mediterranean although it is Adriatic. Palms remind us our home in Florida..
The interest to the tourist is that the old town is built within bounds of Diocletian Palace. It said to have some Roman ruins on Adriatic. Roman Emperor Diocleatian was born nearby in Salonia and became Emperor. He wanted to build huge palace in Split for his retirement. The palace never been completed although it took 11 years to build and many slaves to die on construction. Therefore since emperor never moved in, the locals used it' bounds to live therein Old town. So Old Town is actually within bounds of the Palace.
Next morning we had a breakfast, which was included in the price and it was general buffet spread.
The weather was very nice and warm, just like Mediterranean in fall. We took hotel's free shuttle to Split. It was sunny, blue sky, and the setup of the palace was spectacular. It has a lot's of nooks and crannies to explore. I was armed with books and maps so I think we did OK. The thing is do not expect Palace, but ruins. The Palace was abandoned and used by common folks. It has a lot's of build-in buildings. I wish they forbade construction. You can see some Venetian elements besides Roman but also so many hodge-podge built-up as people moved in. I've seen many people asked "where are the rooms of the palace?". There are none, just use your imagination how Diocletian must have lived. One area had a round room without coupole (was destroyed in medieval wars) but acoustics was incredible. There was a trio singing dalmatian sngs.
We also walked seafront promenade and sat on the sun. We had nice seafood lunch in the Diocletian Palace. We sampled local gelato on the street, called "sladoled" (in Slavic languages means "sweet ice"). In the afternoon we got a return ride on a shuttle back to hotel.
We liked people watching. Young Croatians are so tall and good looking!
On the way in the shuttle the driver was trying to flirt with a young russian lady. He did not speak Russian and she did not speak English nor Croatian. George offered them to translate and of course he killed the deal. :-)
We rested at hotel and went to cash our complimentary 10 eur gift card at casino. Turned out that with this 10eur card you need also to add your own 10 eur but - they give you one extra chip. Yeah right. We are not gamblers but since they lured us to the casino, George played Blackjack and won 10 eur. So we are ahead 10 eur. Then I promptly lost it in slot machine. We still had 5 eur chip left and wanted to put it on red color roulette. But they told us this is a gift chip (read: cheap chip) and we can ony bet on certain number. We put 13 - the number my husband avoids like plague and of course lost. We must as well throw away that chip but at least we tried that chance.
We had nice walk on the Le Meridien Marina , the weather was warm and sunny and people swam on the beach and in the pool but for us it was too cold to swim. We had Ok dinner but beautifully presented and well served by friendly staff. This is very nice hotel but they still need to iron out some wrinkles in service but they fixed problems promptly with a smile.
We are off tomorrow to Dubrovnik.
posted by Sophia Kulich | 12:10 PM
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