About Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital of Croatia and has approximately 800,000 residents. The city is divided into two main areas that you would want to see, Upper and Lower Town. The Gothic 13th century St. Mark’s Church with its colorful roof tiles is located in Upper Town, as is Tkalčićeva Street; it is filled with outdoor cafés and is pedestrian-friendly. The Lower Town has the main square, museums, shops, restaurants, and several parks.
Train from Ljubljana
The train from Ljubljana is a short 2-hour trip and takes you through the Slovenian and Croatian countryside. Along the way, you are greeted by views of beautiful lakes, rivers, mountains, and small towns. Since we had a Eurail pass, we could travel when we wanted without having to purchase a new ticket; just jump on the train, find a seat, and then sit back and relax.
Arrival at Zagreb Station
When you arrive in Zagreb by train, as we did, you are greeted by a beautiful park. As soon as you exit the station, you will see 18th and 19th-century architecture. The architecture is similar to Vienna and Munich due to the Austro-Hungarian influences. However, Zagreb did feel more eastern Europe than Ljubljana, but not as much as Poznan or Krakow. However, if you get away from the main tourist areas, Zagreb does resemble East Berlin from the late 1980s.
The train station is located in the Lower Town area; you have to pass through several parks and the main square to reach the Upper Town area. (The Upper Town is named due to its elevation over the Lower Town area.) We arrived at Tkalčićeva Street and found a café to sit down for a drink and to people watch. Luckily, while we were sitting at the café, a ceremonial procession passed by our table.
Funicular to Upper Town
Zagreb also has a funicular to the main Upper Town area, so we again wanted to ride up to the top. Since we had made a mistake in Ljubljana and walked up the path to the castle, we decided to use our phone’s GPS. We weren’t going to be stupid again; you live, you learn.
GPS in hand, we headed off to the funicular; since we were part of the way up the hillside already, a short walk downhill was expected to reach the funicular. As we strolled through several back streets and downhill, we came across a set of stairs. Thinking we probably needed to go up a little to reach the funicular, we kept walking; this turned into 6 or 7 flights of stairs.
The next thing we knew, the funicular was in front of us. Yippee, we made it to our ride up the mountain! Then we realized that our not-so-smart GPS took us to the upper end of the funicular, not the lower. So we screwed up two days in a row with the lazy man’s ride to the top. At least in Ljubljana, we realized about a quarter of the way up, not at the top. I guess my phone thought I needed more exercise.
Upper Town
The Upper Town has many old buildings and St. Mark’s Church with its beautiful tile roof. Several lookout areas have great views of the Lower Town and the surrounding areas. We spent about an hour walking around and enjoying the views.
There are several museums including the Museum of Broken Relationships and the Croatian Museum of Naive Art. We spent about an hour walking around the Upper Town square and side streets before heading back down to the Lower Town.
Lower Town
We had heard about a great authentic restaurant in the Lower Town from a friend and wanted to try it. It was a couple of hours past the lunch rush and I thought we could easily get into the small restaurant. It was on a side street and only had seating for about 12-15 people. We asked about the wait time and it was over 45 minutes. Not wanting to wait, we walked a block over and took a break in the park under the trees.
My wife was looking online for other restaurants in the area and many were close to the Upper Town. All of a sudden a pigeon jumped into my wife’s lap and needless to say, she jumped as well. Backtracking was not an option; we decided to look at other options closer to the train station. I was in the mood for a döner kebab. Unfortunately, none of the restaurants we passed had them.
After about 30 minutes of wandering, we decided to just stop at the next restaurant. Our meal orders had been placed and we were relaxing under the umbrellas at the café/restaurant. My wife asked me what type of restaurant was on the corner, about 100 feet down the street. Would you believe it was a restaurant that served primarily döner kebabs? I was not a happy camper to see that. Even though I wanted a döner kebab, the schnitzel was great and there were no complaints in the end.
Leaving Zagreb
The train station was a 30-minute walk from the restaurant and we had about an hour and a half before the next train was scheduled to leave. Having just eaten, we made it a relaxing stroll back to the station. Upon arrival at the station, we decided to sit down on some benches and enjoy the scenery with a cold drink.
We boarded the train around 7:15 PM and arrived in Ljubljana about 2 hours later. Although it was a short visit to Zagreb, I would recommend visiting even if you can only be there for 8 hours like us.
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