Slow Day to Slovenia

Today will be along travel day. We are ready to be picked up at our coordinated time of 0740. Marija’s husband Philip picks us up and we are at the train station by 0800, giving us 30 minutes until our train leaves.

Waiting at Split Station

I confirm the platform and track with the ticket lady and we go outside and sit on a bench while we wait. We had bought a combo Croatia, Slovenia, and Austria rail pass at home. It is a 4 day pass but gives us a free day for a total of 5. We will most likely only need 4. When I did the math, it will probably save us around 30 to 70 dollars in train travel depending on which trains we take. More importantly, it makes it worry free, as we can jump on and off any train on the days we use it. Going to Austria involves a few connections and with the pass if we miss one, it will not matter. You have two months to use the 5 days, even though the Croatian train lady who validated the pass put the end date as September 18 instead of October 18 which is one month. It does not matter as we will be in Sicily on September 18.
Our train arrives and surprisingly to us, it is only two cars in length. We find our reserved seats and settle in. The train engine is loud and we chug along out of Split and into the Croatian mountains. I think I can, I think I can, the engine moans and groans. It is somewhat of a roller coaster ride and we wind to the left, wind to the right, leaning all the time.

Every Station has One

It does not go very fast on tracks like this so we now know why it is a six hour scheduled ride to Zagreb.
Fast forward or should I say slow forward and we arrive in Zagreb 1 hour late at 1530. All,this means is that we missed the possibility of a 1500 bus to Slovenia which with another train would have gotten us to our hotel about 3 hours earlier. Originally, if the bus did not work out, we have a 4 hour layover. Now since we are late, it is only three. I check at the train ticket counter to make sure we do not need a seat reservation on the train from Zagreb to Lesce Bled. Even with the rail pass, some trains require a seat reservation. This one does not so we are good to go. We find a storage locker for our back packs and I get rid of 15 Kunas in coin, lightening my pockets. We are going to walk around central Zagreb. Zagreb is the Capitol of Croatia. We walk from the train station along a park lined street. It is very beautiful for a bustling city. The buildings have very interesting architectural qualities to them. After about a half mile we come to Jelacic Square with a big statue of Jelacic, a 19th century governor.

Zagreb Cathedral

From the square, it is a short walk to the Zagreb Cathedral. The original cathedral was built in 1094 and was destroyed in the 1200s by invading Tartars. Then it was rebuilt, and damaged in an 1880 earthquake. They are still restoring parts of the outside. They have a display showing mother natures damage of a spire and the reconstructed ones that are adding to the facade. The new stone is obvious verse the older original work.
Inside, the cathedral is beautiful. Behind the alter is the modern tomb of Archbishop Stepinac. He shortsightedly supported the nazi puppet government, thinking this would lead to independence from Serbia. When Tito took over, he put Stepinac in jail for five years. I am not sure why he is honored, maybe for his faith while imprisoned. From the cathedral we wander and go in another church. St. Marks church has a much simpler interior. We wander down a nice quiet street with locals sitting in cafes. We decide to stop and sit to enjoy a local beer. I ask our waiter what he would recommend in a dark and he says Tomislav, so Tomislav is what we get. Very nice and relaxing, not a tourist in sight, unless we look in a mirror.

Very Good Choice

After we finish our beer it starts to rain lightly, so we start back. I still have some Croatian Kuna that we must feed to the local economy. A bakery provides some of the solution. We get two slices of the very local creme cake, two crepes, and a cheese Burek that the nice girl recommends. We walk in the rain back to the station. There we buy two cheese calzones to eat now, and a coke zero. That leaves me with about 30 cents of Kuna left, an acceptable loss. We eat our calzones and watch it really start to pour outside. Our timing and touring was perfect. By the time we finish our meal and get our packs, our train to Lesce Bled has arrived. It is 1837 and we won’t arrive at Lesce Bled until 2150 or 9:50 P.M. A short while after we leave Zagreb, the train comes to a halt, and we see many police officers at a station. We are at the Croatia/Slovenia border. First our passports are checked by the Croatian officer, then they are checked by the Slovenian officer. Since Croatia is not in the European Union yet, we get another taste of what travel was like in another time between countries here. Once Croatia is part of the EU this will no longer occur. Moving on, the rain continues while we are in our dry environ and then it gets dark by 2015. A lot different from our days in Sweden when it was still light at 2300.

Zagreb Creme Cake Dessert on the Train

We pass through Lubjilana, the Capitol of Slovenia and arrive on time in Lesce Bled. We get off the train at the mostly deserted station, turn down the cab driver waiting there, and find the street to walk to our hotel. Since we put on our rain coats and pack covers while on the train, it is not raining. The streets are totally deserted but we reach the hotel in about 10 minutes. The desk clerk tells us we are the last to check in, takes our passports, but not our credit cards, hands us the key and says good night. The room is large and a typical hotel room, but we do have a balcony. It has been a long day and now we must get some rest. Until morning!
Expenses
Rail Pass ( covers Croatia, Slovenia, and Austria for any 5 days) 330 Euro
Locker in Zagreb 15 HRK
Beers in Zagreb 34 HRK
Pastry, crepes, and Burek 46 HRK
Calzone, Focaccia, Coke Zero at Zagreb Train Station 33 HRK
Hotel Krek in Lesce Bled. 80 Euro (E)
Walked 4 Miles