Getting hot in Zagreb

As we start to head south again the temperatures begin to rise.

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We left Ptuj looking for water. One of our books suggests a local free aire could be a good source. The aire happens to be at a petrol station. A short detour, but it would also take us to a less obvious border crossing into Croatia, perhaps this would be less busy.

We cannot find the petrol station, then in dawns on us, there it is on the motorway. Dora is not that keen on motorways and it is tolled, we move ever onwards south.

We pass a thermal bath, which could have been nice in the heat, but it looks overrun by children and the border is just around the corner. We give it a miss.

The border guards look surprised to see us.

‘You don’t want to come this way, the roads are terrible. Keep going another 5 km turn left, the 65km to Zagreb’ he says.

We are not sure, perhaps he just can’t be bothered to check our passports, but what can we do except take his advice. He settles back into his chair, back into the heat of the afternoon.

Further down the road and we come  to abrupt stop, road works at a railway crossing have completely blocked our route. A local is also turning round, he beckons for us to follow as he turns of left down the narrowest of country lanes. Dora’s tires just keep within the tarmac, we just hope there is not much traffic coming in the other direction. We come across a few cars. They seem more afraid of Dora than she is of them, and they career to the side to let us pass.

Eventually we find the border control and another uneventful crossing, don’t you just love Europe.

An hour later and we are on the outskirts of Zagreb.

The air conditioning of a shopping mall invites us in. We are on the search for a data card.

The shopping centre is pretty much dead. Although it looks pretty new, just a few shoppers are wandering around. Perhaps everyone  stays indoors when it is this hot!

T-mobile is once again a dead loss, we try a competitor and eventually we find a product we like. It is actually a mobile phone card, but the assistant assures us it will work. At 50km it is dirt cheap, approximately €7 and has free phone calls texts, but what we are after is the 3GB of data. It is only 3G and he does warn us coverage is not great, but we can live with that. We like this guy’s honesty.

We circumnavigate Zagreb in the direction of the South western suburbs, we hear that is tolerated overnight parking.

What we find really intrigues us.

A massive sports facility; man-made lakes with rowing courses together with artificial beaches. It seems the whole of Zagreb is here. It costs 10 KM (€1.20) to enter and yes we can stay overnight, we like the sound of this place.

We find an unusually shady spot for Dora, normally we like the sun so she can replenish her electricity via the solar panel, but today we seek coolness.

It is early evening now and some locals are off home. We wander down to the beach to soak up the atmosphere, but we don’t venture into the water.

It seems strange to me swimming in fresh water, being so used to the sea. ‘What’s the difference’ asks Susana. ‘More buoyant’ is my excuse, she raises her eyebrows at my rational response.

It has been a relatively peaceful night, although in the distance we could just about hear some of the bars and clubs going strong into the early hours of the morning.

Today we are off to explore the capital. The heat is already beginning to rise. We move Dora to the other side of the lake, park her in the sun so she can recharge our laptops and leave her to it. This side we hope is a little closer to the public transport.

We buy two tickets and board a tram. It is pretty quiet on the streets. Maybe everyone is on holiday, then we remember, it is Sunday.

First stop, the main square.

The market is a little sad today, just a few tourists wandering about.

But the bees are having a glorious time on the fruits and the sweets.

A small tower gives us a vantage point, overlooking the city. It also allows us to get our bearings and see what else this place has to offer.

The cathedral.

That is where we started, near the main square.

This place looks quite cute and compact.

And just below us, the highlight in our guide ‘The museum of broken relationships’.

Now I was quite sceptical of this place, but I suppose at least it isn’t a waxwork museum, a Segway tour, a torture museum or some other cliché like that. At least this is original, until they realise how successful it is and franchise it into every known tourist location on the planet.

This place is packed, does everyone have of a copy of our guide?

And how to describe it…A touching memento and a brief explanation. Sometimes not so brief, but these were inevitably less powerful.

Each room is themed; young broken relationships, old, with parents. There are only about six rooms, with maybe a dozen in each, but it is enough. It is quite emotionally wearing. Some of them are funny, some highly pretentious and others quiet shocking;

The break up of an affair where she returns to her husband, but he still hangs on in hope.

The prostitute coming across her ex as a client.

The suicide note from a mother.

It was the break up of the parental relationships that was the worst.

But the worse one of all, a rape victim, abused as a child, still somehow loving the abuser.

Wow….that was tough.

And somehow emotionally drained. Interestingly,story after story, you become to realise how effective powerful writing can be. The first two stories touch directly your feelings. You feel sad, empathetic, moved. Then you start to skip the long ones, your brain looks for short, punchy, potent stories. The start them is important. The unforgettable ones, unfortunately, are the ones that could destroy the humans’ psyche most.  SM

Back into the heat of the streets.

Relief, cold water, time to replenish our bottle.

Back to the square. Now the market is completely closed and all cleared away. Where have all those bees one?

We are bored with cathedrals. After Saint Peters it is difficult to impress. We don’t bother with this one.

The hours of toil that took to accomplish that. You wouldn’t mind so much if it wasn’t all for a fictitious fairy tale. What wasted lives that could have been used achieving something much more worthwhile!

Interesting bit of bling outside, melt it down and give it to the poor, wasn’t that JC message or have all you believers forgotten that, hypocrites.

A model of the town is covered in blossom, incredible casting. Now this is useful art, this is worthwhile.

And a lovely bit of modernism amongst all the historic leftovers. Interesting use of frit, where colour is baked onto the glass, similar to patterns being fired onto ceramic. Here it is used to prevent heat getting into the building, but still allowing views and daylight.

I really like the crisp white graduated effect.

That’s enough of the city. We find a tram and return to Dora,

who is sitting beside the beach.

Time for a cool down.

We leave Zagreb, travelling south.

An hour later, just outside a national park we find a quiet spot for the night, not so elegant, but it will do us.

It is much cooler here, tomorrow, the coast.

GDR