Zadar, Croatia July 28-30 Part 1

 

The trip from Zagreb to Zadar, was a long one, but nice.  The first train, from Zagreb to Knin, had first class and we got reservations the day before, so we didn’t have to rush to board.  The train was air conditioned and it worked well.  It even had outlets to plug the computer into, so we traveled in style.  We even knew when to get off to change trains, so no stress there.

                                                                     

When we changed trains in Knin, our new train had ONE car.  We knew we had a 2 hour trip on this train, so we prepared ourselves for a long hot trip.  Well we were wrong, luckily.  This train, small though it is, had air conditioning and was very comfortable. 

                                                                    

 

The trip to Zadar was beautiful, through mountains and valleys until we reached the Adriatic Sea.  To say the route was “less traveled” is an understatement.  A fellow traveller who grew up in Zadar, explained how, since the 1990 war, no one lived in this area between Knin and Zadar anymore. 

 

      

 

As you can see from these train stations along the way.  We made 22 stops along the route, and almost no one got on or off at any of them.                                                           

Can you see what this man is doing on the train tracks?  

It looks like he is switching them by hand.   I wouldn’t be surprised….

Some pictures of the scenery

 

           

When we got out of the taxi, who, for the first time this trip, overcharged us for the trip, we heard very load banging.  As we approached our hotel, we saw a band setting up right near the entrance.  Turns out tonight is the opening night of this hotel and this is the celebration, which continued until 2am.  It was sooooo bad that the hotel gave us the room for free, since there was no other rooms available in the whole town.

We walked around the old town and, after dark, came across this circle of lights, Greeting to the Sun.  It was full of people, as was the whole town.  It was pretty. 

       

Even though our room was very noisy the first night, the view is terrific.

   

Old 1st to 5th century Roman ruins.  Not too bad.   

                                                                                                                            

 

Zagreb, Croatia July 25-28

 

Just when you think you have the trains figured out, you find out the train you were going to take isn’t running, see last post, or you find out that the Eurail pass you used to get into Serbia isn’t good in Serbia.  That’s what happened when we checked to see when and if there was a train from Beograd to Zagreb.  The clerk told us that yes there was a train, but no, you can’t use a Eurail pass in Serbia.  We I showed her the map and she showed me the list.  My map showed Serbia as a country we could travel on, but the list said it was not covered. 

So, off to the ATM we went to make sure we had enough money to pay for a ticket from Beograd to the border of Serbia and we decided to buy the tickets on the train if we had to.  Boy was I nervous.  Duane is never nervous.  So, finally, the ticket taker comes around.  I confidently give him my pass, he looks it over and gives it back and moves on…..great.

So the rest of the trip was uneventful and we arrived in Zagreb in the early evening and just walked across the street to our hotel.  After checking in we decided to go eat.  So off we went in “that” direction.  Boy oh boy!  Zagreb is beautiful and clean and full of people but not noise.  We walked along a huge park that ended in a great square, the new town square.  Blue trams ran every which way, street performers made music and we just smiled.  We had no expectations when we booked here.  It was a place to stop so that we wouldn’t have to travel over night to get to Zadar by the the sea.  We are staying for 3 nights now.

The next day, the 26th, we spent walking from 10am to 6pm (a normal tourist day).

                

                                 

Today we took 2 trains to another town where there is a Neanderthal Museum.  They found some of the oldest remains in the world here and they made a diorama of what they looked like, did and cared for each other.  It turns out they knew quite a bit about medicine.  They could heal broken bones and stem infections and lots of stuff you wouldn’t think they would know hundreds of thousands of years ago.  After visiting the museum and seeing the dig site, we walked around town and found some more stuff to buy that we didn’t remember we needed.

                                                        

Belgrade, Beograd, Serbia July 23 -25

 

As wonderful as this trip has been, and that is very wonderful, we do miss being home for special occasions, like birthdays and  anniversaries.  We hope you got your appropriate card and we are sorry we missed the big day.  We were thinking of each and every one of you.

Now back to the trip.  The last 3 days have been interesting and not at all what we thought they would be.  (I was about to type “what we had planned” but I knew you wouldn’t believe we planned anything, and you would be right…)

We found out on the internet, our “trusty” dbbaun.com, the German train schedule that we have used this whole trip, that there were 2 trains from Pirot to Belgrade each day.  So we planned to take the afternoon train, since the train we came on arrived at 11pm and that was our other alternative.  So like good soldiers we got a taxi and we arrived at the train station about an hour early and I asked someone who looked official what track our train would be on.  Well  I got a speech in Serbian.  She kept trying to tell me something and I hadn’t a clue.  She tried having other people help, but no luck.  Then she showed me a schedule and pointed to our train’s time and said “Ne”.   You can translate that.  So no afternoon train today or tomorrow.  Now what?

Luckily one of the desk clerks at our hotel had mentioned that the bus took 4 hours while the old trains took 6, and we should consider taking the bus.  At that time I told her we had Eurail passes and the train was free, so we would probably take the train.  Little did I know.  So we knew there was the possibility of a bus.  So they called a taxi for us and we went to the bus station and got a ticket for the bus at 4:30, 4 hours later.  The nice lady at the reservation office let us sit in the office and even turned on the a/c for us.  So after I ran back downtown to find an ATM so we could pay for the bus ticket ($36 about) we read and waited.

The bus was air conditioned and the ride was fine.  The countryside is beautiful and we went through some mountains, we love that.  I think we went through at least 10 tunnels.  And the highways are wonderful 4 lane  freeways with tolls.

            

 

                                                   

 

Only problem was when we arrived in Belgrade.  I knew where the hotel was from the train station, but not from the bus, but all went fine.

So now we are in Belgrade and intend to stay one day, so we can see what there is to see.  We thought we might take a bike tour for 4 hours, but after sitting in a bus for 4 hours yesterday, we decided to just walk around. 

We really enjoyed the day.  First we found a street market with tons of food and stuff.

                                                                       We found stuff we didn’t know we needed.

Then we found a park that was having a photo display from different counties, Russia and Poland and others.

                             

Also in this park was a fortress, yes another one, and this one was wonderful.  Everywhere we turned was another great view.  The fortress was rebuilt in the early 1800’s not recently, so things are old.  Some things are not even excavated and others are falling apart.  I, personally, love that.  Much better than new construction based on old stuff.

 

       

                

In the fortress we found this church and of course we went in.  They were giving out healing water to drink and to take come and use,  We will see how well it works.  We don’t know the story about the water because no one spoke English.

                                                                 

Pirot, Serbia July 20-22

 

Well Serbia has been in the news since 2000, so we weren’t sure what to expect here, in this brand new country.  Just as we have found everywhere else, people are people and we like most of them.

Pirot is a town of about 50,000 with old sections and newer sections.  We had no plans on really seeing much of it, since what we had read on the internet about this town was mostly wrong.  We expected the hotel to be near the train station, the reason we picked it, and near 2 lakes and near a national park.  Well we needed a taxi, at 11:30 at night, to get here.  There is no lake here, just a swimming pool which is not close and the national park requires a car and a day to get to see.  So, we figured we would rest up, since one true thing was that they have air conditioning and it works well, and we need to take some time off.

So the first day and second days we did housekeeping, you know blogging, banking, emailing, you know.  Yesterday was blazing hot, so we went out and walked around after the sun set.  The weather was great then, and it being Saturday, the downtown area was full of people of all ages, babies and teens and old folks and young adults, all having a great time.  We walked around looking for dinner and ended up having the equivalent of fast food.  We couldn’t read the menu so the one person working at this grill showed us each item, uncooked, so we could choose.  We made the sounds of the animals to find out what kind of meat we were eating.  It was the equivalent of Subway but with fresh meat cooked right there, then you chose the toppings.  We had 2 huge sandwiches and 2 beers for $6.  Serbia is cheap. 

Today we planned on walking around one last time to see the museum and then plan for the next stop.  We went to breakfast as we usually do.  That breakfast is different from what we have become used to.  We have been indulging ourselves with buffet breakfasts which include eggs and slice meats like ham and salami and other sausages and cheeses and breads and cereals.  Here we choose from a menu which has been translated into “English”.  We still have no idea what “salami on cream” means.  And the coffee make cowboy coffee taste like gourmet.  Anyway, at breakfast today the TV was on as it always is.  One of the commercials, in Serbian, was for an electric plug in device to kill roaches and scare away mice.  Nice commercial during breakfast. 

Since we had purchased a similar device and found it did not work, I commented to Duane about it and before we knew it we were talking to the 3 men at the other table.  Our plans for the day changed.

These guys are cartoonists from Belgrade, here in Pirot for a conference.  So we went with them to the last day of the conference where they were drawing for the kids of town and having the kids draw for them.  They are amazing.

             

          

 

               

 

 

Then they found someone to show us around the town, and he spoke a little English. 

          

                                                     

 

Here they post the pictures of the dead like Veliko Tarnovo    

 

                  

                Local pottery                                           Since cars park on the sidewalks, these

                                                                                balls are placed to stop the parking

On to Pirot, Serbia

 

We set out for Serbia this afternoon.  Instead of having 13 minutes to haul our luggage off one train, make our way to another platform and load our luggage on another train, we opted for a taxi.  It cost about $5.  Well worth the E ticket ride we got flying through the mountain to the train station.  We made it safe and sound and boarded our train, which sat there for 35 minutes, because, from the best of my understanding of Bulgarian, the engine broke and we had to get another one.  Well we got the new one and headed off to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria now. 

We had heard about the bombing of the Israeli tourists in eastern Bulgaria on the news.  Did that make US news?  We boarded another train headed for Serbia.  When we crossed the border the train was boarded by security police.  They walked the inside and the outside of the train with flashlights, checking…..  Then, right afterwards, on the Serbian side, we were boarded again and everything was rechecked.

I felt conflicted.  On one hand I felt safe because someone was looking out for me and checking things out and on the other hand it scared me because they needed to do that.  In any case we made it safely to Pirot at about 11pm instead of the 9:30 listed on the schedule.  Our room booking said the hotel was just 600 meters from the train station, so we started walking.  We asked directions, as we often do, and each time we were pointed in the same direction and told to keep going, implying it was a long way.  After walking who knows how long, Duane asked a lady on a bike, and she spoke a little English (no one else spoke any) and she told us to call a taxi.  She called one for us and explained that there was a second train station, but it was not called Pirot, like the stop we got off at and the town we are in, but by some other name.  So finally we got to the hotel with no local money to pay the taxi.  The hotel man paid the taxi and charged us double what he paid, but it was worth it   (double was an extra $2)

So now we are in Pirot, a small town in Serbia where we have found no one who speaks English much (except for the bike lady) and where prices are very cheap, so we are staying here for 3 days to catch up on blogging and then get some rest…..read, stroll a part and not take pictures.  We might even say hello to each other.  I know that sounds silly, but we have been traveling since May 6th and when we “take a break” it means we do blogging, laundry or shopping for essentials.  Real rest is needed and being taken.

So long for now.

Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria July 16 -18

 

Even though the air conditioning didn’t work and the front desk clerks didn’t know anything about the town they live and work in, the view from our window was worth the cost of the room

                                                                      

 

This is a piece of the view, you just can’t capture it on film (ok, maybe not film).  The fortress in the distance is restored and you can visit it, and the one on the nearer hill is just starting to be redone.  They have restored the tower but nothing else.  If you look closely, if you can, you can see the walls are still ruins.  I wish they would leave them like that, so we could see how they are now without any intervention, but no, you cannot visit the ruins, just the redone stuff.

Sure is beautiful in the setting sun.

We took a free walking tour with Randy, a college student, and saw the world’s smallest bird.  Really, it is the smallest bird, a hummingbird the size of a bumblebee. 

 

   Can’t see it?     

 

There are murals on the sides of some of the buildings left over from the Russian occupation, they call it “in the Russian style”.

               

 

It is a cute town with small shops in the same area they have been in for 3000 years.  Some of the buildings expand their upper stories to get more space and not pay extra taxes.

 

      

 

                                                  

As you see, the town is built on hills.  It is lovely to see.

When someone dies their family posts their picture on a neighboring wall for 40 days and then again on the first and second anniversary of their death.  You see these posters all around the town. 

                                  This monument is remembering the men who fought for and won different battles with the Turks for their freedom, which often didn’t last long.  If a statue of a soldier is on a horse and the horse is standing with 2 feet in the air, the soldier died in battle, if the horse has one leg lifted, the soldier died later of his wounds and if the horse is stand on all 4 feet, the soldier died from unrelated causes.

                                                                                     

  It is just a lovely place