We decided to go to
Croatia from
Turkey by train. At the train station we bought tickets from
Istanbul to
Belgrade (
Serbia) which was to take 22 hours leaving at
10pm and arriving at
7pm the next day. Then we would have to change trains and take a night train to get to
Zagreb early the next morning, in time for me to pick up my mom, who is traveling
Croatia with us, at the airport.
There was a lot of hubbub when we got to the station there was some hubbub getting on the train but we finally got our sleeping compartment. It was for 6 people but we got it to ourselves.
The train is lovely. It’s always nice to take a train. Especially when it first pulls away from the station. Thinking about the hundreds of years people have traveled by rail. Taking your time and enjoying the journey. Waving to people at stations you pass. “Bye” a group of men yell while waving anxiously. A hearty sendoff from a beautiful country I’ve only touched a drop of.
We fall asleep to the sound of the tracks completely content in our beds. At 5 in the morning we have to go through passport control to get into Bulgaria. If you travel through non EU countries, you have to go through passport control to get out of one country and then into the next. Its very frustrating when you really want to be asleep. We are finally in and back in dreamland. We wake up slow enjoying the rhythm of the train. Have a breakfast and get ready for our nice day on the train. That is when we pull into Sofia and are told that they train will be staying here for 9 hours and leave for Belgrade tonight. What?? This means that I can’t meet my mom. What do we do? After a lot of back and forth, we opt for the bus. It will not be as nice as the train but we will definitely get into Zagreb the next morning.
On the bus we get to see this beautiful Canyon in Serbia. It seems like a beautiful country and I think of my dear friend Katie and her husband Bob (who is from Serbia) constantly. I would like to come back here. We also meet this older guy who is going to Zagreb as well. He helps us with the stop in Nis, Serbia (our 2nd of 3 border crossings) getting us tickets and dinner. The bus is fairly empty so we are able to spread out and get some sleep. We finally get to Zagreb at 7am the next day. Hostel Lika is easy to find and pretty nice.
I head to the airport to pick up my mom. I am really happy she is coming to travel with us. I hope it is a good time for her! She is very relieved that I am there to meet her.
Zagreb was nice but we didn’t spend much time there. We wandered around the city that day and had the best ice cream any of us had ever had (The place is called Millenium if you are ever in Zagreb). That night after mom had fallen asleep I went out for a beer with this guy from Tazmania who I had met in the hostel. He was really nice and told me to look him up if I end up in Australia. Hooray friends.
Our last day we went to the market and botanical gardens before catching the bus to Plitvice. A pretty good start to Croatia!
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