After finally making it to Zagreb in one piece, we settled in before heading out to grab lunch and explore the area around our Airbnb. However, as has been the case for the last few cities, we were driven inside by another rainstorm. Luckily, it quickly passed and we took advantage, walking to the town center. We wandered around aimlessly at first, checking out the main church and other sites in Zagreb’s “lower-town”.

After comparing our options for dinner, we settled on an Asian-fusion restaurant right in the middle of town called Umami (a great recommendation from Becca’s friend). Stuffed from our curry, soba and gyoza, we waddled our way through the other parts of town we had missed before heading home.

The next morning we started getting ready when we realized our hot water had stopped working! Ryan messed around with it (despite Becca wanting him to leave it alone) but he found no success. Deciding to leave the hot water heater on for a bit, we gave up and headed to a nearby cafe with a Harry Potter theme, aptly named Potter.

After leaving the cafe we walked to a nearby botanical garden and spent the remainder of the mornng enjoying the plants and floral arrangements. There was a neat green house with lily pads and hanging plants as well as a seperate glass exhibit with carnivorous plants inside. We spent a long time waiting for a fly to be eaten, but didn’t end up seeing the plants in action unfortunately.

After the garden we grabbed lunch and hiked up to the upper town which has older architecture including a really neat church with elaborate roofing tiles. The views from the upper town were also really beautiful so we spent some time just enjoying the scenery. Ryan tried to convince Becca to eat at a famous restaurant called Grandfather’s Dream, but Becca balked at the menu which contained items such as frog soup!

We needed to buy bus tickets for the following day because we wanted to visit the Plitvice Lakes – a UNESCO World Heritage Site and National Park a few hours away – so we walked down to the station. It was a very confusing experience because every bus company had their own windows, but we finally figured it out and bought tickets for the 7:30 AM bus.

We decided we wanted to eat in, mostly because our airbnb had a really nice kitchen and (we thought) a waffle maker. Ryan found a panini press in the drawer and we were convinced it was a waffle maker until we opened it later. We got the idea of savory waffles in our heads and headed to the nearest grocery store to buy ingredients.

Finding tomatoes, rocket, eggs, ham, and margarine wasn’t too difficult, but waffle mix and milk proved to be. We could only find a pancake mix meant for really sweet pancakes from Austria that were meant to be served with powdered sugar – but it was all we could find, so we bought it. We struggled to find a small milk option since we didn’t need it for anything else, but finally found one that looked alright.
We brought back our haul and started getting everything set up. This is when we realized that we had a panini press rather than a waffle iron – and we pivoted to pancakes. We emptied the mix into a bowl and opened the milk to find clumps and a strange smell. We used a translator to read the packaging and realized we had bought goat’s milk rather than cows milk on accident, but we still aren’t sure if that was the cause or if the milk had just gone bad. Becca was adament about pouring it out, so we switched to water for the mix. Becca started the pancakes and Ryan worked on the eggs and before we knew it we had a meal – not the waffles we’d set out to make – but a tasty meal just the same.

A Day at Plitvice Lakes

Waking early in the morning the next day, we set out for Plitvice. The bus ride was really easy and we managed to get inside the park before 10! While the crowds were definitely beginning to grow, it did not take away from how stunning the lakes were. There was a light and steady rain when we got to the lakes, but it quickly turned into an all-out downpour. Luckily we were prepared and donning our rain jackets, whereas some of the other visitors were in heels and t-shirts!

We made good progress through the lakes, passing by slower tour groups who were wearing matching ponchos, making them very easy to spot. Each section of the lakes offered its own incredible views, ranging from heavily wooded portions to areas with nothing but water and weeds, there was so much to take in!
Before we knew it, we had reached the end of the trail – happy with what we had seen and thoroughly soaked. We headed to the main entrance and figured out how to get back home, realizing that the busses only came sporadically, and that we’d have to wait for an hour until the next one arrived.

Not wanting to miss the bus and be stuck at the lakes for an additional couple hours, we set up camp inside of the very small bus stop shelter and waited. As time passed, lots of people joined us in the small little building, everyone as cold and wet as us, and equally desperate to be home and to get warm. Just as we were giving up all hope on our bus ever showing up, it finally arrived. Once on the bus we did our best to warm up (thanks for the scarf Liz!!) and dry off on the two hour trip back into Zagreb.
While we had been away, our host had come in and fixed our hot water, and we were very happy to warm up with a hot shower after several hours of being thoroughly soaked.

After cleaning up, we headed into town to grab some dinner, ending up at a nice Italian restaurant right off the main square. We both enjoyed some incredible meals, with Ryan having some gnocchi and Becca getting some penne pasta – carbo-loading a little out of order!

Becca insisted that we go to a place called the Cookie Factory after dinner for dessert and it was well worth it. We got two cookies – smores and fudge AND brownie a la mode! It was a treat yourself kind of day after the morning hikes and rain. We sat outside on the main street of restaurants and people watched for a long time before heading back to the airbnb.

Our final morning in Zagreb we were able to sleep in a bit because our train was not until noon. However, check out was at 11, so we needed to find somewhere to spend time between check out and our train. Becca had read about a cat cafe and we realized it was just around the corner from our place, so after packing up we headed there.

They only took cash and we only had 20 kune left which meant we could only afford two espressos (“es-paw-sso” according to their menu) so Becca drank a coffee rather than tea for the first time in a long while. The cafe had 9 cats which had full roam of the shop and they were funny. They ran around the store and played a lot, climbing up on tables and staring at us. We spent a lovely relaxing hour surrounded by cats before heading to the train station to catch our train to Ljubljana. This ride was pretty uneventful which was a nice break after some weird recent travel experiences!