Hurray Hrvatska

Day One 
We arrived in Zagreb, Croatia (called Hrvatska by Croatians) in the afternoon. Stepping out of the station, I was pleasantly surprised by a small green park with a statue and important looking building. It was a good first impression of Zagreb, and I looked forward to seeing more of the city. We located Hostel Chic easily, as it a was super close to the train station. It lacked some of the amenities and common spaces of the hostel in Ljubljana, but was clean and comfortable and colorfully painted. We headed out right away to change money and see some museums before they closed.

However, that day was not a normal day in Zagreb. Police stood on every corner, the streets were closed off, fancy people filled the Sheraton and the entire museum district was off limits. This was because at midnight Croatia was going to become the 28th county in the EU and lots of politicians and important people were taking part in the ceremony in the main square.

St. Mark's Church with the classic checkers

Although we were bummed we couldn't go see the museums as the area was closed off (I'm guessing for private viewings for visiting dignitaries), Nathan and I were excited at our excellent timing. It seemed that we had come to Croatia on an exciting day. 

We walked around a bit, had dinner, then went back to the hostel. Croatia joined the EU at midnight, and we didn't think that we could make it through the celebrations without a nap. So we headed out to the main square a little but after 11 and joined the big crowd. There were some interesting cultural showcases of presumably famous Croatian singers and dancers, but mostly a lot of speeches. We couldn't see the fireworks and even after midnight the speeches were continuing and people were leaving. I'm assuming people were partying in other parts of the city, but not too much excitement where we were. It had been cool to be part of the crowd at a historic event, but in the end mostly anticlimactic. We got ice cream, went back and watched some of the post-event musical show (electric violinist and cellist) and then returned to the hostel. 


Day Two
Our only full day in Zagreb was filled with trying to fit in all the museums and places we wanted to visit. It was difficult though as it was a Monday and most of the museums were closed, leaving us with very limited options. The Museum of Broken Relationships was quirky with its donated items accompanied with personal stories. St. Mark's Church stood out with its Croatian red and white checkered roof. The Croatian History Museum was disappointing as it was relocating and only had one exhibit about a shipwreck open.

EU flags everywhere! Welcome Croatia

The Dolac Market was also a miss as we arrived too late (even though the guidebook said it should be open) and most of the stalls were gone. Zagreb Cathedral was tall and gothic. We found a club jersey for Nathan, ate a Croatian lunch of roasted lamb, took a mandatory afternoon nap at the hostel and headed back out.

We tried to go to an art museum but the line was insanely long so we bailed on it. At this point most of the museums were closed so we wandered around the city. Tkalciceva is the main pedestrian cafe street of the area, so we relaxed at "History Club Caffe" and did our research for Budapest and wrote in our notebooks. We then walked around the city center and had dinner, which included trying one of the national dishes, which was pasta filled with cheese. I liked it, except for the icky sauce which felt like eating sand. 

Day Three
We had a morning train to Budapest so we popped into a grocery store for breakfast and snack supplies, changed our leftover money back to euros and caught our six and a half blue train to Hungary's capital. 

Conclusion:
Yay for Croatia! Very exciting for them to be joining the EU, even though many Croats were less than pleased because Croatia is suffering massive unemployment and economic issues and some Croats felt that joining the EU would make it worse. 

All ready to head to Budapest!

However, even the EU celebrations couldn't make Zagreb very interesting. In just two nights, I felt like I saw most of what Zagreb had to offer. At least as far as the city center/tourist area goes. It's bigger than Ljubljana, with more people and more to do, but for some reason it just wasn't very interesting. It's hard to pick a specific reason but Nathan and I just weren't very enthusiastic about the city. I didn't really get a feel for it's history (maybe because our lack of museum options) and I also felt the city didn't have much personality or charm. Of course, first impressions aren't fair and we were there for a short time so I should give it a second chance. But as is, no real desire to return to Zagreb. I hear the Dalmatian Coast and Dubrovnik are where it's at though, so hopefully 
I'll be back to Croatia. 

(I only saw one Dalmatian dog the whole time, maybe they're all on the beaches?)