Jen and Rebecca See Zagreb from the Outside

We had a leisurely morning, in part because the restaurant was pretty busy with fellow breakfasters and in part because our first stop of the day was only 10 km away and didn't open until 10:00.  Because Rebecca likes freaking Jen out with below ground enclosed spaces, and we hadn't seen enough caves the day before, we went to the Barac Caves where we toured the Upper cave system.  We're pretty sure most of the people in our tour were Italian, and we were the only native English speakers in the group, but the friendly tour guide gave his tour in English.  Rebecca also did her good deed for the day by exchanging some kunas for Euros with fellow tourists, so that they could see the caves without having to drive into town to find an ATM.  Now where will we be able to spend Euros?

All helmeted up for the cave tour.

Cave.  We saw more wildlife today...bats!

Sadly, the cool air of the cave didn't seem to have the healing properties for our sniffly noses/allergies/sinus issues as one of the signs promoted about the cave indicated it had.  At least we still have some Kleenex. 

A few more miles down the road, we stopped to see a few more waterfalls because we just hadn't seen enough yesterday.  The Rastoke park in Slunj had a little ethnographic museum (quaint and quick to walk through) and a nice grassy park area to walk around (plus another small cave!) on our way to talking more waterfall photos.  It was a nice road stop...before we'd barely even gotten on the road to Zagreb.

Jen with waterfall.

Rebecca with waterfall.  (I think it's the same one as above. That one was the most photogenic.)

Shaun with waterfall.

We got back on the road, stopping a bit further on for lunch.  We were congratulating ourselves on ordering before two tour buses showed up to unload their guests, but little did we know that these tour buses must be regulars here and the cooks srved up the bus drivers' meals before they got to ours.  An hour later, with both buses back on the road again, we finally got our lunches.  They were pretty greasy, but we ate them anyway.  At least the Cokes had arrived early, so we could nurse them while we waited.

Getting the rest of the way to Zagreb was a breeze, and we finally made use of the wifi to GPS our way to our apartment, which is outside the city center. Given our relatively museum-light trip thus far, we figured we'd make up for lost time during our time in Zagreb.  But apparently we should have read the guidebooks about Zagreb BEFORE booking the dates of our travel.  Apparently museums in Zagreb are closed Sunday afternoons AND Mondays.  So we spent our afternoon walking around a relatively quiet Zagreb, walking past all the museums we wouldn't be able to enter.

Rebecca put out at the closed Museum of Arts and Crafts.

Jen outside the closed opera house.

At least there were pretty things to see outside too.  This is St. Mark's Church.

Once we felt like we'd seen pretty much all the outdoor sites of Zagreb we were bound to see, we headed to Tkalciceva Street, the town's main promenade and home of a lot of outdoor seating for drinks.  It was fun to sit in the bustling atmosphere, enjoying a beer as the sun set.  We were also pleasantly surprised with the restaurant we chose for dinner.  Delicious food, delicious Posip wine (from the same vineyard we'd done our tasting at), good friendly service, and some fun conversation with the Brits sitting at the next door table.  Zagreb redeemed itself in our estimation in the evening, even without museums to see!

Jen with big beer.

Post-dinner happiness.