Because we felt like we’d pretty much already seen what there was to see of Zagreb without being able to go into any museums, and we still had a car, we used the old trusty Google to see what we could explore outside the city for the day. (Both of our guidebooks are for all of Eastern Europe, so there’s not as much detail for more out-of-the-way places.) Jen was able to find us some castles along what seemed to be good grape-growing country (and thus possible wine tastings?), and we sure do love castles, so we hit the road leading out of Zagreb. First stop: Varazdin. We were so excited to see that the castle doors were open, ready for visitors!
Sadly, the museum inside the castle was closed. Really?! Don’t tourists other than us ever travel on Mondays?
Shaun loves castles too
Not to be deterred, we took a lot of photos of the outside of the castle and the cute little town. We tried to check out the market, only to arrive as it was closing down for the day at 1:00. (Apparently people only shop in the mornings.) We avoided running over the throngs of high school students flooding the sidewalks and streets to drive to the town’s cemetery, purportedly one of the most beautiful in Europe (but we’re pretty sure all European towns think that about their cemeteries.) This one was designed to look like a park with lots of trees and bushes, so we agreed, it was pretty. But you can only spend so much time in a cemetery, especially on a hot day.
Having seen pretty much all there was to see, since again, none of the town’s museums were open, we went a little further down the road, through some gorgeous scenery, to another castle, at Trakoscan. This one looked even more castle-like than the last one, and was situated on a lovely hill. We were fervently hoping the trek up said lovely hill would reward us with a castle actually open for visitors. And lo and behold, it was open! Huzzah! Even better, there were pretty much no other guests, so we were able to wander at our leisure. And almost the whole castle was open and well-refurbished. Definitely worth the trip.
Success! We found an open museum!
And it even had gorgeous scenery!
The goal for the drive back to Zagreb was wine. We realized we’d missed the entrance to a winery a bit too late, but instead of turning around, we kept going, assuming we’d see more. Alas, no. Only one winery on the road back! But we figured we would just treat ourselves to a bottle of wine with dinner, as it was our last night and all. Don’t judge us too harshly, but we wanted to have a good, nice meal on our last night, so we ate at the same place we’d eaten at the night before. And we were not disappointed. It was just as delicious as the previous night (and we even ordered different things!)
Before going home to pack, we stopped in at the one museum in Zagreb open on Mondays, the Museum of Broken Relationships. It’s pretty much what it sounds like. People have donated items that remind them of relationships that have ended and each tells a brief story of the object. Somewhat funny, somewhat sad, somewhat depressing. But Rebecca in particular likes quirky museums, and this one was actually open!
We are definitely sad that vacation is over, but we both seem to be allergic to Croatia (or each other) so maybe going home will at least result in less sneezing and watery eyes?
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