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Basic intinerary:
Flew to Zagreb and spent five days there. Flew to Dubrovnik and spent two days there. Boat to Split and one day there. Drove to Seline and spent four days there. Drove back to Zagreb with a stop at Plitvice.
It was great to arrive in Zagreb. It was my third trip and I’m starting to feel really comfortable there. Denis’s family met us at the airport although we only saw his brother (Darijo Pavlic) sister-in-law (Jasna) and their kids (Bruno 9, Magdalena 7, Slavica 6, and Katerina almost 3) briefly before leaving with Denis’s mother (Minka). We were pretty jetlagged so stopped at my parents’ hotel, and at Minka’s apartment and then went to get cevapi (spicy meat on a special bread bun that’s sort of English-muffiny, but so much better) in the main square. There saw a large banner that said “Shopping and Fucking” (in English) that kind of freaked out my mom and sister, but later we explained it was the name of a play put on by some university students.
The next day we walked around the old section of the city. It’s lovely, most of the architecture is late nineteenth century while Croatia was under the Austro-Hungarians which explains why the city has been called “Little Vienna”. We visited the Pavlics (Denis’s brother’s family). Jasna made a great dinner complete with turkey and mlinci (these yummy noodle-type things). Slavica began teaching my dad to count in Croatian.
The rest of the days are a little mushed together in my mind. We saw the Pavlics again. My dad suggested we take all the kids outside so we played soccer in the park and then went for icecream. The European soccer cup was going on while we were there so Sunday we watched the game with Croatia, it wasn’t very interesting, no one scored. We spent more time in Zagreb walking around, and saw the Ivan Mestrovic museum. Croatia has a pretty developed café culture so we spent lots of time sitting in cafes. Minka, Melissa, and my dad would get coffee, me, Denis, and mom Fanta or water, Minka would smoke, and we would just chat. It’s a good break from the sun. I because briefly but intensely infatuated with the store Lush. We only had one rainy day. I bought myself a good Croatian dictionary and some children’s books to practice with. Minka also gave me some of Denis’s most beloved childhood books. My mom got Minka to talk about her family and to write down some chronology stuff. Denis was very patient translating.
We had some business stuff to do that was more of a pain than anything. Melissa and I had to register at the police station since we weren’t staying in a hotel. We had to go twice and the second time Denis almost got arrested for “not standing in line”. Zagreb police are real jerks. We also had a snafu with the rental car company when they didn’t have a van and said that the rental reservation should not have been confirmed. We ended up getting two cars, a gumby-green Kangoo and Renault Clio (that Denis loved to drive). Darijo and Jasna picked them up in Zagreb and then drove to Seline and then picked us up in Split. (The logistics are a little complicated.) Anyway it all turned out fine.
Flew to Zagreb and spent five days there. Flew to Dubrovnik and spent two days there. Boat to Split and one day there. Drove to Seline and spent four days there. Drove back to Zagreb with a stop at Plitvice.
It was great to arrive in Zagreb. It was my third trip and I’m starting to feel really comfortable there. Denis’s family met us at the airport although we only saw his brother (Darijo Pavlic) sister-in-law (Jasna) and their kids (Bruno 9, Magdalena 7, Slavica 6, and Katerina almost 3) briefly before leaving with Denis’s mother (Minka). We were pretty jetlagged so stopped at my parents’ hotel, and at Minka’s apartment and then went to get cevapi (spicy meat on a special bread bun that’s sort of English-muffiny, but so much better) in the main square. There saw a large banner that said “Shopping and Fucking” (in English) that kind of freaked out my mom and sister, but later we explained it was the name of a play put on by some university students.
The next day we walked around the old section of the city. It’s lovely, most of the architecture is late nineteenth century while Croatia was under the Austro-Hungarians which explains why the city has been called “Little Vienna”. We visited the Pavlics (Denis’s brother’s family). Jasna made a great dinner complete with turkey and mlinci (these yummy noodle-type things). Slavica began teaching my dad to count in Croatian.
The rest of the days are a little mushed together in my mind. We saw the Pavlics again. My dad suggested we take all the kids outside so we played soccer in the park and then went for icecream. The European soccer cup was going on while we were there so Sunday we watched the game with Croatia, it wasn’t very interesting, no one scored. We spent more time in Zagreb walking around, and saw the Ivan Mestrovic museum. Croatia has a pretty developed café culture so we spent lots of time sitting in cafes. Minka, Melissa, and my dad would get coffee, me, Denis, and mom Fanta or water, Minka would smoke, and we would just chat. It’s a good break from the sun. I because briefly but intensely infatuated with the store Lush. We only had one rainy day. I bought myself a good Croatian dictionary and some children’s books to practice with. Minka also gave me some of Denis’s most beloved childhood books. My mom got Minka to talk about her family and to write down some chronology stuff. Denis was very patient translating.
We had some business stuff to do that was more of a pain than anything. Melissa and I had to register at the police station since we weren’t staying in a hotel. We had to go twice and the second time Denis almost got arrested for “not standing in line”. Zagreb police are real jerks. We also had a snafu with the rental car company when they didn’t have a van and said that the rental reservation should not have been confirmed. We ended up getting two cars, a gumby-green Kangoo and Renault Clio (that Denis loved to drive). Darijo and Jasna picked them up in Zagreb and then drove to Seline and then picked us up in Split. (The logistics are a little complicated.) Anyway it all turned out fine.
