Our train to Zagreb wasn't until later in the afternoon (novel as most of our journeys have involved relatively early mornings!), so we had a lazy morning packing up our stuff. We weren't sure how long the bus took to the train station (we arrived into a different one and our host picked us up) so we got a bus about midday after we got kicked out of our place. It was only about 10 minutes so we arrived at the train station a few hours early…it's amazing how long you can eek out drinking a coffee! The train station wasn't very well sign posted, but luckily there was a man in the ticket office, we crossed the line to the second platform and sat watching all the other people still on platform one looking quite confused.

Anyhow, we were in carriage 402…yes, four hundred and two… how long was this train?! Obviously it's just their numbering system and we found our carriage with our reserved seats….in a compartment!!!!! How exciting, we'd not had one of these before. Once we'd located our compartment and waited for the German/Croatian family to put the seats back together (they all recline!) and rearranged some luggage we were on our way.

Instead of looking at the view/napping/reading, we ended up playing charades (film, tv series, animal, occupation!) with the family (Mum, son Fabian & daughter Jena - not sure how old, maybe between 7-10). Quite amusing and despite the language barriers, we succeeded in killing an hour and half of our journey! Once everyone got bored, we continued with the napping/reading and generally being encroached on by the kids…hmm, personal space anyone?!

We found our apartment and settled in before heading out for dinner…on the way to the apartment it was beginning to spit slightly…by the time we went for dinner it was sh**ing it down…in fact as we left our apartment, a little old lady came out and offered us an umbrella (no idea where she came from, maybe she was a guardian angel….)….but we refused thinking our waterproofs would be fine. As mentioned before the Peter Storm pac-a-mac (other brands are still available) are pretty good and they definitely kept the top half dry. The umbrella would probably have saved a little of our bottom halves.

James had found a restaurant on trip advisor for dinner that was meant to be amazing food and really cheap. Well, anything in Zagreb is really cheap when the exchange rate is 10 HRK to the £….we had 2 beers, 2 (amazing) mains and 2 brandies….all for £25…we actually felt a bit odd paying so little for such a great meal!! By the time we'd finished, it was still sh**ing it down, so headed straight home to dry out.

Luckily the rain cleared overnight and it was dry when we went out the next day. Still umming and arring about going to the Plitvice lakes, we went exploring the upper part of Zagreb. Armed with a guide book we spent the morning wandering around the town and soaking up some of the history (we will try and remember all the interesting points when we post up the photos!). Everything we seem to visit has been under construction! And there was no difference with the stunning cathedral. Our little tour didn't take long to do the bits from the guide book so had some lunch and headed home for a bit of a rest. A little later we went out to the Museum of Broken Relationships (a must do on trip advisor) and it was well worth the £2.50 entrance fee each. A real mix of sad and funny, this is a museum paying homage to people's relationship breakups, with mementos and stories. It's well worth a visit if you go!

After some discussion, we made the decision not to go to the Plitvice Lakes - if we'd had more time and a bigger budget, then no problem. However, getting the bus there and back plus entrance fee would have taken out a day's budget…next time!

The next morning, after ignoring our alarms and having a lie in, we headed down to the lower part of town. Again, armed with the guide book, 'tour-guide James' regaled me with the history of the town. We only wish we'd taken slightly more note of what was in the book as we're somewhat struggling to remember the more interesting facts surrounding the numerous pictures we took!! Came across some beautiful botanical gardens as well which were a nice break from all of the buildings.

Our time in Zagreb was at an end, it was a lot more chilled than we'd expected - to be honest, we needed it! We'd love to come back again and do some more exploring - maybe with a car and more time/money, a trip around Eastern Europe would be quite appealing!

Back into Western Europe tomorrow and the Euro…