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2023 Croatia/Germany

September - October 2023
A 29-day adventure by Davor & Deb Read more
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  • 2023 Croatia/Germany
    Day 1

    The adventure begins!

    September 19, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C
  • 2023 Croatia/Germany
    1
    Day 2

    Zagreb, Croatia

    September 20, 2023 in Croatia ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    After 3 flights, we made it! Davor has already spoken Croatian with the Avis guy, our Airbnb host and the neighbor across the hall! After 30 years, he can still remember it!

    Highlight of the day: I loved hearing Davor speak Croatian!!!Read more

  • 2023 Croatia/Germany
    111
    Day 3

    A sentimental tour and downtown Zagreb

    September 21, 2023 in Croatia ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    It’s been a great first day in Zagreb!!! First we drove out to 3 villages on the edge of town, one where Davor’s family lived with his paternal grandparents, one where his maternal grandparents lived and the last where his aunt and uncle lived. Davor loved driving the narrow roads made for one car, but it’s a 2 way street. It’s always fun when you encounter someone and one car has to drive on the sidewalk or find a wider place on the street to let the other pass! That first pic is an attempt to show you that!
    Then we brought the car back to the apartment and walked about 10 mins to the center of Zagreb. There’s a beautiful park right down the street (pics 2&3).
    The pic with the streetcar is the heart of the town and it’s a pedestrian shopping area too.
    Then we found this long tunnel, on a hot day, it offered a cool walk! It was built in 1943, during WWII. It sheltered the citizens then and also during the Croatian War of Independence from 1991-1995.
    We happened upon a shop that had some wonderful puppets that had been made for the puppet convention that they have every year. They were so cool!! I won’t bore you with all the pics I took of them!
    The last pic is in a garden behind a small restaurant, that was mentioned in 2 different tour books. They only make one thing, strukli (basically noodles and cheese rolled up and baked). It was yummy!!! A great way to end an amazing day!!!

    Highlight of the day: visiting the villages where Davor’s family lived was filled with memories and very emotional    Read more

  • 2023 Croatia/Germany
    51
    Day 4

    Mainly Food!

    September 22, 2023 in Croatia ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    We started our day in downtown Zagreb at the outdoor market. When Davor saw the statue of the lady with the basket on her head he commented, “ That’s how my grandmother(Baka), used to bring her vegetables to the market to sell!” The red umbrellas at the market are called Sestine umbrellas because they were originally made in Sestine(the village outside of Zagreb that we visited yesterday, where Davor’s aunt and uncle lived)
    Then we stopped at a bakery for me to get a mid morning snack, a slice of apple strudel!
    The 4th pic is of a government building with flags of Zagreb and Croatia. In the background is St Mark’s Church. The tile roof(kids call it the Lego roof) is the medieval coat of arms of Croatia Dalmatia and Slavonia and the emblem of Zagreb is on the right.
    Next is a fun mural painted on the side of a building.
    The highlight of the day for Davor was when we drove to a small town outside of Zagreb, and had his favorite Croatian dessert, crème schnitte ( phyllo dough with a cream in between).
    And lastly, we stopped at a grocery store on the way home. Notice the basket on wheels he is using!

    Highlight of the day: I loved the sculpture if the woman with the basket on her head since Davor said it reminded him of Baka (grandmother in Croatian). Of course it was the crème schnitte for Davor!    Read more

  • 2023 Croatia/Germany
    1
    Day 5

    The Pulse of Zagreb

    September 23, 2023 in Croatia ⋅ 🌧 21 °C

    It was supposed to be 100% chance of rain today. But instead we woke up to cloudy skies and cooler temperatures so we walked downtown for the day.
    Everywhere you turn in Zagreb there are outdoor cafes with tables filled with people drinking coffee and a water or an alcoholic drink, anytime of the day. There is a ratio of 1 cafe to every 175 inhabitants!
    About mid morning we sat down at the cafe in the first picture. It’s located in the main square. To our surprise, suddenly there was a small band and several men on horses coming into the square. So like all the good tourists, I jumped up to get a picture! It was the “Cravat”Regiment, an honor guard battalion, that protects the upper town. They do a ceremonial changing of the guard on Saturdays.
    “Cravat” is the Croatian word for a men’s tie. Tradition has it, that the Croatian Calvary wore a red scarf around their necks. When the French King Louis XIV hired the Croatian Calvary, because he didn’t have a Calvary of his own, the French liked the red scarves so much and the men’s necktie was born! The third pic is of a famous necktie shop called Cravat!
    From high end art, to low end…graffiti. You see it everywhere in town, on all the buildings. This is an alley where there was a lot of it.
    A tradition that we had seen on the bridges in Paris, we found on a railing at a terrace overlook…couples put a padlock on the rail to symbolize their unbreakable love.
    We didn’t have a padlock so we just took this picture of us instead!

    Highlight of the day: we both bought rings and I bought earrings from a local artist!    Read more

  • 2023 Croatia/Germany
    1
    Day 6

    Sweet Memories of Zagreb

    September 24, 2023 in Croatia ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    Today is Sunday, sadly our last day in Zagreb. We have enjoyed exploring the city so much. Places we recognized and new sights. Today it was rainy so we went to the Tesla Technological Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the most popular and most unique museum in Zagreb, the Museum of Broken Relationships! People donated sentimental items from relationships that had come to an end, by death or a romantic relationship that ended or they got divorced. Very interesting!

    I thought I’d post some of the other pics I’ve taken of Zagreb over the last couple days.
    1-the Stone Gate, an entry into the city that was part of the wall around the city
    2-the Cathedral, it was damaged in the earthquake of 2020 and is being repaired
    3-the funicular that you can take from the lower town to the upper, the shortest funicular in the world. It takes 60 seconds, top to bottom
    4-a typical view over the city with all the orange tile rooftops!
    5-a tower in the upper town, at noon each day a canon is fired
    5- the Opera house
    6- the upper town still has actual gas lanterns and they are manually lit each nite
    7-we had a really nice dinner tonite! Mine was veal roast, green beans and scalloped potatoes
    8-Davor ate lamb shank, fennel and polenta
    9-for dessert I had dark choc torte with pistachios
    10-Davor had molten choc cake and vanilla bean ice cream

    Highlight of the day: we loved the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Museum of Broken Relationships    Read more

  • 2023 Croatia/Germany
    1
    Day 7

    Drive frm Zagreb to Split

    September 25, 2023 in Croatia ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    On Monday we drove from Zagreb to Split, on the Adriatic Sea. It was a 5 hr drive but we took the whole day and made a couple stops.
    First we went to Rastoke, a village built on water, with a crazy amount of waterfalls because of the rocky terrain. It made it a perfect setting for a mill. (Pics 1&2) The turbin blade you can see working in the third pic and close up in the 4th was unique for running the mill.
    We drove from there and we were excited to see the sign Novo Selo! Which means new village and is the origin of our name!!!
    After the day starting very dreary and drizzly, we drove through a 3 mile long tunnel and were greeted by blue skies, sunshine and the Adriatic! (Pic #6) Apparently the Dalmatian mountains are a real weather maker and separate the interior from the coastline. (Pic #11)
    The next town we came to was Zadar and we were surprised to see Roman ruins throughout the inner city(pics 7-9). A really unique thing in Zadar is the sea organ. I hope #10 comes thru as a video! There are slots on the seaward side of the marble steps like a stack of gigantic harmonicas. As the surf hits the side of the organ, it alters the air pressure of the resonating cavity within the structure, blowing against 35 musical pipes. The result is a constantly changing sound that varies in pitch and loudness depending on the surf. I hope you can hear it! If not I’ll share it with you when I see you!!!
    And we finally arrived at our destination, Split, and were greeted by a beautiful sunset from the balcony of our Airbnb!

    Highlight of the day: Davor loved Rastoke, which I did too, but I also thought it was neat to see the sign for Novo Selo since Davor had always explained that that’s what our name meant.    Read more

  • 2023 Croatia/Germany
    1
    Day 8

    Diocletian’s Palace in Split

    September 26, 2023 in Croatia ⋅ 🌙 24 °C

    Our day started with this beautiful view of the Adriatic. Then we headed to downtown Split to wander around Diocletian’s Palace. He was a Roman emperor and this was his enormous retirement palace.
    The next 6 pics are of the palace. Photos 4&5 are of the Cathedral. Diocletian actually had Christians executed and the cathedral was originally his mausoleum and after he died it became a cathedral dedicated to a martyred bishop.
    We went out in the evening and enjoyed the Split lifestyle. It was breezy and cooler. A wonderful evening. Took this pic of ourselves along the Riva, the walkway along the water.
    Pics 9,10& 11 are at a wonderful little restaurant we found called Tinel. We ate in the inner courtyard and got a plate of the traditional Croatian grilled meats. Very yummy and way too much food! Our sweet waitress was Gigi!
    We wandered around the Palace again by nite and enjoyed the atmosphere. And then stopped for gelato for dessert!

    Highlight of the day: our wonderful dinner at Tinel and walking along the Riva    Read more

  • 2023 Croatia/Germany
    1
    Day 9

    Ivan Meštrović in Split

    September 27, 2023 in Croatia ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    We had a wonderful start to our day. We drove just down the road to the gallery and chapel of Ivan Meštrović, a famous sculptor, Croatia’s answer to Rodin! He did works in marble, bronze and wood. I will share some of each, but the highlight for me was his 28 wood reliefs of the Life of Christ. He was a devout catholic. They are in order except for some in the end. He did them over a 30 year time period. I thought they were so neat I will use 2 posts to share them all!!Read more

  • 2023 Croatia/Germany
    Day 9

    Meštrović cont’d and Trogir

    September 27, 2023 in Croatia ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Here are the last 6 reliefs of Christ’s life and the crucifix in the front of the chapel.
    Pic 8 is a sculpture that the artist did of himself. Pic 9 is the Last Supper painted on wood.
    Pics 10-14 are more of his sculptures.
    As we drove out of Split to Trogir, I was struck by how close the mountains are to the coast (Pic 15).
    In Trogir the first thing that caught my eye was this unique memorial to all the fallen soldiers of the city(pic 16).
    The last four pics are from the medieval architecture in Trogir.

    Highlight of the day: the wood reliefs of the Life of Christ!    Read more

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