Well, we are in beautiful Zagreb and having a wonderful time! James and I met at the airport in Budapest and he was much perkier than I had expected after almost 24 hours of travel. We hopped on a bus and then took two different metros to the train station, and we didn't have any trouble despite our complete inability even to sound out the Hungarian words in my phrase book. We couldn't have done it without the kindness of English-speaking strangers who noticed our bewildered state and stepped in to translate for us, but we were still pretty proud of ourselves.
We got to the train station a couple of hours early and bought our tickets to Zagreb. There isn't much around the train station, and certainly there wasn't much open on a Sunday afternoon, but we bought some slices at Pizza Hut and sat in the middle of the square outside the train station and soaked up some sun. We took a long walk to stretch our legs before settling into our 6 hour train journey to Zagreb. James slept most of the way, and I read and slept intermittently. We arrived in Zagreb at about 11:30 and walked straight to our hostel. We had no trouble finding it. I had booked our beds about a month in advance, and emailed twice to let them know we were arriving late. My most recent email was the day before, and I had received an email in reply saying that that was fine and they were expecting us. However, when we got there, the office was closed, and a young Croatian man answered our knock in his underwear, with a bewildered expression on his face. I explained to him that we had reservations, and he said he was not expecting us. We went over to the computer, which he had to repeatedly restart, to look up my reservation, but he told us they had no more beds. We were too tired even to be annoyed, we were just worried that we wouldn't have anywhere to sleep. He finally found our reservation, and he was really embarassed that they had overbooked. He called around to some other places, but nowhere seemed to have any beds, so he offered to let us sleep for free on the sofa in his room. We said that would be fine, and he offered us a shot of Croation liquor. We sat around talking for awhile, and then the guesthouse next door called to say that they had an empty room. So, in the end, we got a private twin ensuite room to ourselves, and slept very comfortably.
We woke up early and walked back into to town. Our hostel is right off the main square, Trg Jelačića, which is very convenient. The man at the hostel told us that flying to Dubrovnik isn't that much more expensive than taking the bus, and much more convenient, so we headed to the airline office and bought tickets for tonight. We sat in a cafe on Trg Jelačića, which was busy but quiet, and listened to a man playing an accordian while we drank our coffee. Now we're going to check out of our hostel and do some sightseeing before we hop on the plane tonight.
We got to the train station a couple of hours early and bought our tickets to Zagreb. There isn't much around the train station, and certainly there wasn't much open on a Sunday afternoon, but we bought some slices at Pizza Hut and sat in the middle of the square outside the train station and soaked up some sun. We took a long walk to stretch our legs before settling into our 6 hour train journey to Zagreb. James slept most of the way, and I read and slept intermittently. We arrived in Zagreb at about 11:30 and walked straight to our hostel. We had no trouble finding it. I had booked our beds about a month in advance, and emailed twice to let them know we were arriving late. My most recent email was the day before, and I had received an email in reply saying that that was fine and they were expecting us. However, when we got there, the office was closed, and a young Croatian man answered our knock in his underwear, with a bewildered expression on his face. I explained to him that we had reservations, and he said he was not expecting us. We went over to the computer, which he had to repeatedly restart, to look up my reservation, but he told us they had no more beds. We were too tired even to be annoyed, we were just worried that we wouldn't have anywhere to sleep. He finally found our reservation, and he was really embarassed that they had overbooked. He called around to some other places, but nowhere seemed to have any beds, so he offered to let us sleep for free on the sofa in his room. We said that would be fine, and he offered us a shot of Croation liquor. We sat around talking for awhile, and then the guesthouse next door called to say that they had an empty room. So, in the end, we got a private twin ensuite room to ourselves, and slept very comfortably.
We woke up early and walked back into to town. Our hostel is right off the main square, Trg Jelačića, which is very convenient. The man at the hostel told us that flying to Dubrovnik isn't that much more expensive than taking the bus, and much more convenient, so we headed to the airline office and bought tickets for tonight. We sat in a cafe on Trg Jelačića, which was busy but quiet, and listened to a man playing an accordian while we drank our coffee. Now we're going to check out of our hostel and do some sightseeing before we hop on the plane tonight.
