A pretty quiet day today. One last blow dry meant that we were salon-ready for the final leg of our trip  
……. Waaaaaaa!

Walking along the north-west wing of Split we found that the esplanade looked quite clean and modern, and again would be filled with holiday makers in Summer. 

  
  
  
  
There were many people milling about because it was a nice Saturday and obviously people flock to the coast on weekends. The cafes along the shoreline were also open for the first time since we arrived…probably for this very reason.  

  
  
We did some souvenir shopping before returning to the pizza restaurant for some lunch. Teresa finally had an authentic pizza covered with anchovies! Yum!

  
Michele had pasta with truffle sauce, and dark beer was the bevvy…of course. We did some research about the trip on the ferry to Ancona and then walked down to Cantun Paulina for some local takeaway ćevapi (a type of kebab made with Turkish bread, sausage-like rissoles, onions and peppers). A biting wind had made the 8 degree temperature feel like 3 degrees and so dinner was very much enjoyed at home as we put our feet up at about 5pm for a quiet night, realising that this may be the first time in a month that we’ve actually had a whole afternoon of down time.Tomorrow we will spend our last day in Croatia….for now…. dobra noč!

It continued to rain heavily throughout the night but thankfully it had stopped by morning. Teresa cooked herself brekki and we each braved the tiny shower before heading out for the day. The cafe that Irene told us would be open at 9am for our included “breakfast” of coffee and a croissant was closed still at 9:30 so we skipped that part and went wandering around some more of the palace grounds. The contrast of old ruins among newer buildings makes for interesting scenery, although there are obviously constant restorations underway.  

  
Irene had organised for us to have a free “Split Card” (for anyone if they spend 3 or more nights in Split) which gave us either free or discounted access into a variety of museums and historical buildings. 

  
  
  
We used this to access the palace Mausoleum and then the “basement” which is the underground part of the palace, full of different rooms and hallways made of stone, quite complex and amazing. 

   
 There are markets in the middle of the basement, the part that is free for all people to access. These are selling various trinkets, plants and pottery. We have also noticed that there are several cats that just wander the paths of the palace who don’t seem to belong to anyone but appear healthy, well-fed and are relaxed and friendly. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Irene had recommended that we take a day trip out to one of the islands so we went and enquired at the ferry terminal and found that the only island we could access today was Brač. We bought two tickets for 56HRK and boarded the enormous ferry…probably the largest boat either of us has ever been on. As the ferry made its way across to the island the scenery of the mountains was quite spectacular.

  
  
  
  
 There are many villages dotted along the coastline. The ride across took about an hour and was smooth and comfortable, made even more so by the fact that we could purchase coffee and beer on the boat. The town that we berthed at was called Supetar which is a lovely little seaside village that is obviously a very popular tourist spot in Summer, judging by the amount of bars, restaurants and beachside activities ….all now closed for the winter.

There were quite a few cats just hanging around this island too. A handful of places were open and we found a cute little restaurant for lunch. We were one of two tables in the entire place which gave off an authentic family restaurant atmosphere. Teresa ordered a risotto with prawns and Michele had spaghetti bolognaise. 

  
  
  
  
Both meals were hot, fresh and delicious! Even the extra Parmesan cheese was served as a wedge with a grater. 

  
The service by a friendly male waiter was fantastic, needless to say we really enjoyed our lunch here! We just forgot to take a picture of the name of the restaurant 😦

  
  
We had been told when purchasing our ferry tickets that the boats back to the mainland would leave at 3, 6 and 8pm so we had another walk around and then went to board the awaiting ferry at about 2:20pm… early just to be on the safe side! When we gave the man our tickets he informed us that they were just the receipt part of our one-way tickets and we would have to purchase another ticket to go back to the mainland. Lucky we had tried to board early! We walked the 250metres back to the ticket office and bought our tickets, having a little laugh with the lady about our mistake, and then started walking back to the ferry only to see the boat pulling away from the wharf! Aghhh! There really wasn’t enough to do on the island to laud away another 3 hours (except of course, drink)! 

We walked back to the ticket office and thankfully the lady assured us that we had been misinformed and the next boat would be in an hour, at 3:30pm …phew! So we found a cafe with wifi…Cafe Barbara took our fancy for some reason… and had a coffee and a beer while waiting for the next ferry, which we made in time! We chose the opposite side to what we came over on and were treated to even more beautiful scenery of the mountains.   

We regrouped back at our apartment to add a blog post and have a small break before dinner. Finding a suitable place to eat proved a little challenging, there were lots of caffe/bars available but very few restaurants open.   

There are a lot of pizza and fast food places to cater for the afternoon shoppers (shops seem to stay open later here) but we wanted something a little more cosy, with table service. We ended up back at Mazzgoon…. not reluctantly though. We were greeted with recognition and waves from the chefs in the open kitchen and Teresa was happy that she could order the mussels that she envied so much last night. Michele ordered beef cheeks and wild mushrooms in puff pastry….this once again did not disappoint! 

 
 
    
Very artistically presented and delicious! 

A FaceTime with Scott completed our day and then it was time for bed. Tomorrow we have our final hair appointments for the holiday, followed by some souvenir shopping at the markets. Until then, dobra noč!  

Check out from the Jagerhorn was simple and painless. They organised a transfer by Ekotaxi to the airport which cost 130HRK ($26) for a 30 minute trip. The hotel handles the payment so we did not have to negotiate with the taxi driver.

  
We were very reluctant to leave our centrally located and cosy hotel and fully recommend this place if anyone travels to Zagreb. Zagreb airport is currently the domestic and international terminal but this will change soon. 

  
It was very quiet and moving through security was quick despite having to almost remove everything. After we redressed we found the Sky bar and had a beer overlooking the Tarmac. 

  
We looked at the departures board with wanderlust as we realised that most of the destinations were only an hour away. 

  
Flying out of Zagreb we could still see snow in the countryside although it hasn’t snowed for about a week.

  
  
Our host, Irene, met us at the airport and drove us to our apartment. 

  
It took about 30 minutes and during the drive Irene gave us very detailed commentary about the city, its history and particular attractions. Since this is a summer resort many places are shut for the winter. We don’t mind, the reduced crowds and ease of getting around appeals to us more.

Our apartment is situated inside an ancient Roman structure, the Dioclesian Palace. 

  
  
  
 This has now been turned into a little village of shops and residences accessed by a myriad of cobblestoned alleyways, much like in Venice. 

  
  
In contrast to Zagreb, this Croatian city has a Mediterranean atmosphere. Irene informed us that Split has a large Italian influence in their culture so their traditional foods include pasta and pizza, and they use Italian words in their dialect. 

Our little 16th century apartment has original stone walls but is decorated in a beautifully modern way. The highlight is definitely the little bathroom that miraculously turns into a shower with a simple drawing of a shower curtain! 

  
Because so many restaurants are closed in Split at this time of year, Irene walked us through the palace grounds to a typical Split restaurant where we parted ways with her and finally sat down to eat! We shared as bruschetta followed by a pizza and, of course, beer! 

   
 Energy levels revitalised, we were now ready to explore! There is temptation everywhere because of the numerous winter sales and Teresa finally succumbed and bought a pair of shoes. 

  
A quick trip back to the apartment to add another layer and drop off the shoes and then we headed down towards the main harbour. 

   
 
  
You can really picture how busy and full of life this place would be in the warmer months. There are restaurants, cafes and bars in every nook and cranny, and the harbour is crammed with outdoor seating and undercover social areas. 

Unfortunately most of these places are also closed, as they call this time of year the “sleeping” time. We did manage to find a cute little cocktail bar tucked upstairs that overlooked the water so we stopped in for a beer and to use the wifi. 

  
Then we made our way back towards our place and found a restaurant called Mazzgoon for dinner. A great little find! Teresa seafood plate of tuna, scampi and octopus but Michele won out with her mussels in a salty cream sauce. 

Dessert was an amazing chocolate, caramel and avocado tart accompanied by a glass of honey rakija, yum! 

  
It started to rain outside so we made the long trek around the corner to our place and put our feet up for the night. Dobra noć!

Last full day in Zagreb started with a nice hot breakfast at Jagerhorn and then a tram ride to Maksimir park which is also the location of the Zagreb zoo.     

  
The zoo was clearly being upgraded so the entry cost of 20HRK was very reasonable …$4 each. We saw some amazing animals such as the Mara (a sort of walking rabbit) and a multitude of very colourful poison frogs. 

   
    
 The ape enclosure and the sea lion pool were very small, dirty and a bit depressing yet we think they have funds to improve these. Also because of the cold winter, some animals can only be seen in enclosed buildings. 

  
 
   
 It was great to see red pandas in the trees above just like you would see koalas in Australia. Michele was a bit anxious when the sleeping male lion was only a few metres away behind a sheet of glass. She did not want him to awaken.
 
   
 We do recommend a visit to this zoo, using tram route 11, especially after the upgrades are complete. All up because of the time of year we probably shared the whole zoo with maybe 20 other visitors. 

  
 
   
   
 
  
Coming back to Centar we wandered around trying to find a restaurant for lunch. That’s when we stumbled upon another impressive cathedral, Zagrebačka. 

  
  We stopped into the Ristoran Kathedral for lunch but it was one of those places that has too many dishes on the menu, with photos, which we should have known would be substandard with mediocre food and no wifi. Oh well, the dark beer was still good!

 After lunch we did more sight seeing and found that there is a lot to see in this city and it is all easily accessed by foot. It was the longest we have been without wifi on this trip so we had to find a cafe to have another beer and connect to the world.

 
  
We walked to the upper town using the stairs directly behind the Jagerhorn rather than catching the funicular again. At the top of these stairs was the most amazing little outdoor bar connected to a restaurant which overlooked the city of Zagreb. We drank vodka while we marvelled at the vista around us as the sun set. Stunning!

   
   
Although we loved the Stari Fijaker we needed to find somewhere else for dinner. We walked for nearly an hour to find somewhere that we were happy to have dinner. There are a lot of places that offer western or Asian food but we wanted table service with local cuisine. We took a punt with a traditional pub and were pleasantly surprised. 

  Not only were the food and drinks great but the price was very cheap. This would be a nice place for lunch too! It seemed to be well patronised by locals (always a good sign).  They actually brew their own beer!

    
 Back to our room for our last night in Zagreb. Dobra noć. 

We started with a lovely breakfast buffet and a sunny day.

 
   
 The hotel we are staying in is so central to everything. After breakfast we took ourselves off for some sight seeing. Around the corner is the funicular tram which we caught up the hill…. This one was actually working!

    
   
 At the top we could see St Marks Cathedral beautiful mosaic work and we walked past the stone gate where there were a lot of devout people praying and showing their respects.

    
We visited the museum of Broken Relationships which was really cool. 

 Here is a place where they display mementos of people’s past relationships and the stories behind them. If you enjoy reading then you will be entertained by the vignettes in this place. The coffee is also excellent! 

  
We wandered through the cobblestoned alleys to stumble upon the fresh food, souvenir and textile markets. 

 These are called the Dolac markets and they seem endless. There were even second hand fur coats on offer! 

We had a beer stop at the Bulldog Cafe and then off to Vinodol for a lovely traditional lunch. Michele ordered mushroom soup in a cob and Teresa enjoyed a pork, cabbage and potato dish. All washed down with local beer.

  
   
    
   
The weather was quite clear and crisp (and a balmy 9C compared to the last couple of countries).

It was time to attend to the hair again so we found a ‘frisier’ who charged us $15 each for a wash and blow dry. We are salon ready again!

   
 The afternoon became a little cooler so our centrally located apartment was accessed to add more layers. There was more sight seeing and walking past parks and buildings. A stop for a drink involved some entrepreneurial children trying to impress (and exploit?) people with their singing for money. Didn’t matter how cute they were, we were not falling for it!

There is a very touristy part of Zagreb with lots of bars and mainstream eateries. We were looking for a traditional restaurant for dinner and ended up at Stari Fijaker again with our favourite waiter who suggested some other lical dishes for us to try. It did not disappoint! We shared a beef and dumpling type stew with homemade breads. Then we tried the Zagreb delicacy of Strukli which is a cottage cheese pastry served with sour cream. Yum! 

      
 Michele finished with a cherry strudel and we complemented our meal with vodkas which were served straight with a slice of lemon……….very smooth!

Our waiter who enjoyed our interest and willingness to listen to his suggestions and advice about local foods  then served us a glass each of Rakia gratis! 

    
We finished the day by visiting the lovely park we had walked past earlier in the day to enjoy the lights by night. 

     
 Zagreb is a busy town and there are people buzzing around, shopping and drinking every evening. Our kind of town….laku noć!

We awoke in our Austrian hotel room to the sad and unexpected news that musical legend David Bowie has died at the age of 69. 

   
 RIP and thank you for so many amazing songs and memories. Teresa saw him twice (once while pregnant with Scott) and Michele is so thankful that her Dad and Terri took her to see him in concert. The television stations in Europe were now filled with tributes and file tapes in memory of this immortal. 
Once we recovered from the shocking news we showered and got ready for our next adventure. After staying at the Mercure in Vienna, we have learnt to not book into the big chain hotels who supposedly offer superior services. What we had was a room with the strangest bathroom door that we have ever seen in a hotel. It was a sliding door made of glass and did not have a seal or a handle, just a big hole as the door handle. WTF? Who designed that nonsense? Also the wifi was crap and the restaurant pretentious. Give us small boutique hotels any day or AirBnB. 

We made our way to Stephanplatz station and stumbled upon the most beautiful cathedral. 

   
    
    
    
 The train ride to the place where the international bus station is was quick and painless, as was buying our tickets (even with a last minute dash across to the train station to get cash out of the ATM, as they don’t take card). We jumped on the Flixbus bound for Croatia after buying supplies for lunch and having some breakfast at a bakery near to the station. The €58 Euro price for two of us was very reasonable. 

   
    
    
    
    
 The bus ride took about 5 hours, with a 20 minute stop in between at a little roadhouse where we each treated ourselves to a vino. 

  
The trip through the Austrian countryside and on to Croatia via Slovenia was beautiful and scenic, with spectacular views of huge green alps and pretty little villages speckling the landscape.

   
    
    
 When we crossed the Croatian border we had to get off the bus and file past a window where a female officer inspected our passports. Then a short distance down the road we had to stop again while a policeman jumped aboard and once again inspected everyone’s passports. This was the first country that we had experienced this diligence with checking identification!

   
   
Our Flixbus dropped us at the main bus depot in Zagreb and we found it quite easy to jump on a tram (thanks again to Google maps) that took us directly to the Main Street of the city where we had a short walk with our suitcases to our hotel. 

   
 The place we have chosen is smack bang in the middle of the city but tucked away enough to not hear the traffic or street noise. Once again we have chosen a cosy little place with lots of character. The person who checked us in was a friendly lady Natasha, who gave us some helpful hints about getting around as well as recommending some places to go for a good Croatian meal. She told us that there is a restaurant that has lovely modern Croatian food or another one that has “the food that a grandmother would make”. Needless to say we went for the latter…and we were not disappointed! 

   
    
 Our friendly waiter at Stari Fijaker recommended the traditional Croatian goulash soup to share for entree and then a “Peasant’s Plate” of sausage, cabbage rolls and meat with potato and sauerkraut to share as a main.

  
This was washed down with two steins of local draught dark beer. The meals were delicious and abundant, the service was friendly and quick and the atmosphere was lovely. Even the bread that they brought out as a starter was freshly made and unique. The entire bill came to 188HRK, and we left a 200 bill…. totaling to the equivalent of about $40. A short stroll around the city afterwards revealed brightly lit streets and endless shops, bars and eateries to explore. We have only been here a matter of hours and are already in love with this city!

QCan’t wait to see more tomorrow … we only wish that Scott was still here enjoying it with us. We’ll make sure we send him lots of food pictures to make him jealous. Until tomorrow laku noć!

We returned to the same little place ‘The Early Bird’ for one last breakfast together before heading back to the apartment to pick up our luggage and make the long trek around the corner to the train station. 

     
 
   
    
   
The train to Vienna cost just 12€ each and was roomy, comfortable and with very few passengers so we were able to spread out. The train ride itself took only an hour and was very scenic so it went quite quickly.

   
    
    
  A quick change onto a suburban train and then we were at our destination in the heart of Vienna city. The Ubahn is very easy to navigate and reminded us of the London Tube. 

  
We checked into our Mercure hotel and then left to spend our last couple of hours together before Scott had to fly back to London ready for work on Monday (haha!). Lunch was at a traditional Austrian restaurant where Scott had the obligatory wiener schnitzel and Michele and Teresa had soup, followed by shared desserts of strudel and creme brûlée. 

   
   
We then took a stroll around the city together, through a beautiful park filled with ducks and through some of the main city streets.

   
    
   
The architecture is typical European magnificence.

    
  One last beer stop in a pub that had been established in 1447 where the cheeky and flirtatious barman showed us to a room filled with signatures (apparently all authentic, although some had to be re-painted due to fading) from famous people including Mark Twain, Mozart, Beethoven, Phil Collins and the Hoff. 

   
 After this it was time to say goodbye to Scott, which is always hard. His holiday had sadly come to an end and he caught a train to the airport. Michele and Teresa then went back to the hotel and had a soup each in the hotel restaurant before going to the room for a quiet night in (and with a tv for the first time in a week!). 

  The wifi in this hotel was not fantastic so Teresa was not able to upload all of her photos so please check yesterday’s blog for some more pics. For now Gute Nacht!

We started off the day by going to a place recommended to us for breakfast. Teresa had a lovely breakfast burrito (not as nice as Barb’s though!), Michele had pancakes and Scott had an English breakfast.
   
   

  
After this we walked downhill in search of the Danube. It was another misty day with frozen rain spitting down ever so slightly. On the way we spotted a flight of concrete stairs disappearing up a hillside. We decided that we needed to investigate. The stairs seemed to go on forever and after about 8 minutes we were at the top and in an area that Scott referred to as the “Vaucluse” of Bratislava. Nice big houses with luxury cars out front. A quick google maps search revealed that we were very close to the Slavin monument, a tribute to the fallen soldiers of World War II. We continued uphill and the monument slowly revealed itself. Again it was made so much more eerily beautiful in the fog as we took a walk around the grounds.
   

          
After leaving Slavin we navigated our way back down the hill, through the icy streets, once again in search of the Danube. Our plans were to find a place to purchase ferry tickets to Vienna for Sunday. 

  We had decided to follow Scott to Vienna instead of spending another night in Bratislava. Scott will fly out and Teresa has found some reasonably-priced accommodation near the river for her and Michele. We found the Danube and the ticket office but sadly found out that it was closed and due to the time of year it seemed that no ferries travelled on the weekend. We would have to take a train instead. Lunch was eaten in another Slovak restaurant. Scott had a traditional creamy garlic soup served in a cob, followed by smoked meat dumplings, Michele finally found the goulash she had been hanging out for and Teresa had a delicious potato pancake filled with roast pork and cabbage. 

  
      More shopping and exploring followed. We had to get home at a reasonable hour as we had to drop the car back out to the airport, but not before stopping for one more beer on the way home and some plum dumplings with cottage cheese and cocoa

  
 (amazing!!). We dropped the car back to Hertz (bye Viktor!) and then caught the bus back into town where we had our last family dinner together at the Savage Garden restaurant. 

  
The highlight being a delicious dessert of poppyseed cake with nougat whipped cream and sour cherries. 

  
Our cocktail waiter from last night recognised us and welcomed us with hand shakes all round! One last night in Slovakia and tomorrow…Austria! Dobrú noc!

One last breakfast in Budapest and we were off in Viktor to our next destination….Bratislava! The drive there wasn’t nearly as hairy as the one into Budapest as the sun was out and the roads weren’t as snowy/icy. 

 As we drove further a thick fog descended around us making our surroundings look mysterious and beautiful. It only took a couple of hours and we were in a new country….this was made abundantly clear as the architecture dramatically changed into very soviet-like buildings. We still had about 20mins to meet our next AirBnB host so we spotted a pub around the corner from our apartment and thought we would stop in for a quick beer. 

  Entering the shoebox-sized, smoke-filled bar we were reminded of an old western style movie when the cowboy walks through the swinging door, the music stops and all eyes turn to the new visitor. This is pretty much what happened, except we were the cowboys and there was no swinging door (pretty sure no music either but let’s just keep that part in there). The entire patronage consisted of 5 men, including the owner/barman sitting around drinking and smoking. Despite our urge to turn around and get the flock out of there, we had committed ourselves and therefore ordered a round of beers and sat in the corner drinking as fast as we could. Once finished we left the fine establishment and headed up to check in to our next accommodation. Our little apartment was a quirky little 2 bedroom about 15mins walk from the heart of Bratislava. We dumped our bags and went in search of lunch. We found a typical Slovak restaurant and ordered from the menu. Scott had an amazing cabbage and sausage soup, Michele quite literally had ham with whipped cream and horseradish (apparently whipped cream with savoury dishes is a thing here) and Teresa had a chicken soup.

   
  These entrees were followed by delicious sheeps milk dumplings (just like pierogi!). 

        
A walk into the old town afterwards was beautiful as the sun disappeared and the fog lingered. Bratislava is definitely a contrast to the beautiful buildings of Ljubljana and Budapest, there is a noticeable amount of vandalism through the parks and buildings and it just seems a little dirtier. That being said, it still has a certain beauty which is amplified by walking around the snow-covered streets in the misty twilight.

 You get quite used to walking around Europe in the dark as the days are so short. Nothing really starts until 9:30-10am and the sun sets by 4:15pm. We continued to wander around the streets exploring, past an outdoor ice-skating rink and various brightly lit trees, stopping every now and then to warm up with a hot wine or two. 

   
   
By dinner time we were all a little tired and agreed that we would pick up some supplies for a home cooked meal. We stopped for one last drink in a bar called “Savage Garden” where a lovely waiter was so proud to create cocktails for us. Scott was put on dinner duty and his ham, cheese and mustard toasted sandwiches were the best we’d ever tasted! Off to bed ready to explore more tomorrow. 

We awoke to a very warm apartment and a sunny day. Breakfast was enjoyed in a cafe downstairs which boasted the best in town. The cafe had a strange display of Baileys that looked like a shrine to the sweet bevvy.

  
   
   
Then it was off to shop and get our hair done. It took Michele and Teresa nearly an hour of walking just to find a hair salon (which incidentally happened to be just around the corner from our apartment…..typical). Finally the hair was done and Michele and Teresa were relieved that they were salon-ready once again!

  
At $20 each it was also a bargain! 

Scott went shopping and bought some clothes. Michele also bought a pair of long black boots and Teresa bought a beanie.

We then went back to the Stonesoup cafe for lunch for more traditional Hungarian food. There inside the restaurant we met Rozie, the hungry Hungarian puppy (10 years old) who befriended us in the hope for food. Teresa of course couldn’t help sneaking some food to her. 

    
Then it was time for sight seeing. As we walked we noticed police tape cordoning off sections of the road and police on every corner. We just thought that was normal here.

So we walked across the Chain bridge and worked our way up to the Palace. 

   
    That’s when we noticed that the Chain Bridge side of the palace was out-of-bounds. Helicopters were buzzing overhead and police sirens were heard. A local then informed us that Chain bridge was closing for traffic because David Cameron, the British Prime Minister was arriving for a meeting at the Palace. 

The views up there were spectacular and we admired the scenery as we made our way back down the other side of the Palace. 

 It was a unique experience to walk back into the centre of Budapest without any traffic but with police everywhere. People were taking advantage of photographing the bridge without traffic. A rare occasion!

   
    
    
    
 
   
    
 
  
   
    
    
    
    
  
  
We then found a fairyland of Christmas lights in the heart of the city. It was time to have a drink so we stopped in an arcade of bars and drank a round of sour cherry beers. Cold brew “nitro” coffee is a new way of serving coffee and we wanted to find the shop that served this. We found them just before closing and stopped in to taste the wares. The coffee is poured as a draft through nitrogen. This causes it to have a foam top and a less bitter taste. We definitely think Australia needs this product!

   
 Dinner was in a small delightful restaurant called Blue Rose. It was near the synagogue so the food was quite traditional. Michele found her chilli fix in the form of a paprika spread served with bread. The soup and meat dishes, plus salad, were washed down with plum brandy, red wine and vodka. 

   
    
   
There is so much more to see in Budapest than what we have, we definitely could have spent a couple of more days exploring this beautiful city. But that will have to wait until next time. Tomorrow we drive to Slovakia! Jó éjszakát 😘