Today dawned magnificent day with the Adriatic sparkling its bluest best and the sky blue and clear for our journey from Rijeka to Zagreb.



As our journey took in either the coast or the hilly inner Croatian countryside (lots of greenery and many, many rocky hills) similar to what we have seen before, there is not too much to report and not too many interesting pics to share.

We decided to have an easy start (ie not a rush) and after breakfast in our apartment and packing up, or landlady visited to collect her rent and to present us with a bottle of Muskat Momjanski – Croatian Muskat, a dessert wine, as we were her first Australian guests and she wanted to recognise the timing. I will report back later on the wine and how we managed to fit a few more drinks into our itinerary.

Upon leaving our street up from the waterfront in Rijeka, we turned left and headed along the coast to Opatija, where it was time for the first coffee of the day in one of many delightful waterfront restaurants. Opatija is a popular summer and winter resort (average temperatures of 10 °C in winter, and 25 °C in summer – which sound quite pleasant I must say). From what we saw the coast at this point is quite stunning and the area looked very affluent, with most people out and about looking to be a quite different cross section to the population of Rijeka that we saw in the central town area yesterday.

We headed around the coast to the west for a while to enjoy beautiful day and the scenic driving, then headed back reluctantly to start our journey to Zagreb, aware that we had to get the hire car back by 4.30 pm and also aware that it was possible that traffic, parking and unfamiliar surroundings might cause some delays.

The direct route to Zagreb was via the tollways, first the one that was limited to 110kpm (including an very long uphill climb out of Rijeka), then on to the A1 tollway (an amazing road which runs from Dubrovnik to Zagreb and has numerous tunnels (some very long) and at least 2 lanes each way, often 3 with a truck lane, which took us into Zagreb quite quickly with just 2 stops – one for a break and the other for petrol / map checking. Perhaps I am getting used to our little Alison Astra or she my driving, but she seemed to handle the 130kph on the A1 much better today than previously and we were even able to overtake some slower vehicles quite well.

Then into Zagreb – and we found our hotel quite easily, only problem was parking and dropping off bags before returning the car. We pulled up in what seemed to be an obvious space for what we wanted but one of the hotel doormen scurried out and told us in no uncertain terms that this was not possible and that the hotel car parking was full! But ever determined, we convinced him that we needed to drop bags and he took them and headed off to the hotel with them (I was desperately hoping to see them again as my passport was in one!).

But the determination kicked in again and we managed to find a parking spot around the block, headed back to the hotel, checked in and took our bags to the room, where we checked the address for the hire care office, then headed off again into the late afternoon traffic. To cut a long story short we found the street, parked and then found the number (sometimes an issue because of a mis-match between our printed info and Gertie Garman's pre-programmed numbers) and ultimately organised the car’s return (despite the displeasure of the car hire fellow because of the not completely full petrol tank, caused by driving around and around in Zagreb traffic!).

Then a 25 minute walk to the hotel, more unpacking and getting our room organised (noting the instructions that wet washing is not allowed and would be removed, laundered and charged for – so no washing out undies / sox this stay – a new experience for me I must say).

Coincidentally Fran and Harry, some of my dear golfing friends happened to be in Zagreb at the same time as me (on their way to Split and a sailing around the islands adventure – something that sounds excellent) and after the obligatory pre-dinner drink we dined out at 'Gallow’ a very nice restaurant which came highly recommended to them by a frequent traveler. The meal and Croatian wine were excellent (as was the company) and I was more than ready for a good sleep before thinking about exploring Zagreb tomorrow.