Monday, December 25, 2017: Christmas Day

We were to gather at 9:00 this morning to open gifts.  The kids wanted everyone to have their cup of coffee, and be seated, ready to open gifts, at 9:00.  Well it was after 9:10 until the stockings were handed to each person.  The couples brought gifts from home for the kids.  It was a delightful time.  After the wrapping paper was cleaned up, we had a homemade breakfast.  

It was about noon when we departed for our apartment, to relax, nap and prepare for 5:00 Christmas dinner.  I had to cook sweet potatoes, and peel white potatoes with a dull paring knife.  The squash was already peeled and diced.   

Christmas Tree with Presants

Christmas Group in Zagreb

When everything was under control Cherie and I went on another stroll.  This time finding another church with open doors. Up front they had a beautiful nativity display – one of the nicest we have seen this Christmas.   

One of the gals in our group loves to take late night walks.  Today she reported about her walk last night!  We knew there was going to be Christmas Eve midnight mass at the Zagreb Cathedral. We thought it may be interesting to observe, even though we would not have been able to understand, but we were all too tired to stay up and attend, however, Donna walked that way last night. She was completely surprised.  The Cathedral had an overflow crowd.  The whole area/plaza outside was filled with people and they listened to the whole mass via the loud speaker. She was amazed.  

By 5:00 our food was prepared and off we went to Christmas dinner.  What a feast! And everything tasted wonderful.  Instead of turkey we had a pork roast with all the trimmings - even fresh apple sauce. What a Christmas to remember.  

The City of Zagreb has definitely been in the Christmas spirit.

Christmas Dinner

Saturday & Sunday, December 23 - 24, 2017, Zagreb - through Christmas Eve

The apartment we have in Zagreb is Apartment Charlie, located 2 ½ blocks off the main square – Ban Jelacic Square.  We are 1 block from Cherie’s friends (husband, wife, and senior in high school daughter - Canadians), who work and live in Doha, Qatar.  Cherie and they have vacationed together before, so we all will be spending some time together, yet do our own thing.  They flew to Zagreb from Split on the 19^th of Dec, while we have explored other parts of Croatian, Montenegro, and Bosnia- Herzegovina via car.  

Also in the meantime, another couple (husband, wife, daughter who is a senior in high school and a 12-year old son - Australians) also living and working in Doha, Qatar, decided to join the party. The girls are best of friends, so the arrival of the second couple was a surprise, as it was a last-minute decision for them. Cherie was with them in Australia this past summer, and all of them have vacationed in Prague two Christmas’s ago.  There are 10 of us! 

Fish Soup for Everyone and Anyone

The first night we reserved a restaurant for all 10 of us, but from then on, we have breakfast with one couple who eat breakfast (while the others sleep-in), and then we have evening beverages with the other couple who does no have the younger child to get to bed.  It has worked well.  Cherie has had time with each couple by herself.  

Our apartment is very nice, but has only a studio style kitchen.  The one couple has a great kitchen, with a large dinning/living area, which is very appropriate for all of us to gather. It is a perfect apartment for entertaining. We will gather there for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. 

Zagreb is a lovely town/capital city.  Everything for tourist is centrally located, within a 7-10-minute walk.   All 3 apartments are with-in a 3-5-minute walk.  It is ideal.  

Breakfast with Friends

Meat and Cheese Market

Saurkraut

Zagreb is celebrating Advent in a very big way.  Almost every possible square has Christmas markets with the little booths being decorated differently. Christmas decorations are everywhere, buildings are lite with small white lights, and the main squares has a sound stages where groups are preforming – from Senior groups, civic groups, and children groups.   

The Christmas markets in Zagreb have more of a emphasis on food and beverages than the German markets, that we experienced in 2012.  The German markets have more crafts and gift items.  

After breakfast each day we have explored the city.  The main square is surrounded by old elegant Austian-Hapburgs style buildings, with the equestrian statue of Josip Jelacic, a Croatian unifier, in the middle   This is an ideal spot for meeting friends.  The main shopping streets lead off the square.  All tram lines stop in the square, so it is an extremely busy part of the city.  At one end of the square is a 360-degree viewing platform at the top of the tallest skyscraper.  You buy a ticket for the whole day, so it is great to have a daytime view of the city and then return for a night view.  It really gives you a perspective of the city and the Christmas markets.    

Miniature Train Museum

Croatian Flag

Ice Skating in the Park

Behind this square are the two original towns of Zagreb – Gradec and Kaptol, united in the 1850’s.  Gradec is now considered “Upper town”, as you either take the funicular (cable car) or walk lots of steps to get there.  Kaptol has the lovely Zagreb Cathedral, which is in the process of having the exterior restored.  This is a Catholic Cathedral as Croatia is a devote Catholic country.  Inside 4 confessionals were in use, with long lines at each station.  It was amazing.  Behind the main altar there is a life-sized sculpture of the Archbishop of Zagreb who served during World War II.  

In the plaza outside, in front of the Cathedral, each night had 3 performances of a live nativity – we greatly enjoyed the 4:15 performance, so we stayed to see it again at 5:00. It was a worshipful experience, even though not a word was spoken in English.  

Near the Cathedral Square is the Market Square.  The outdoor upper market is for fresh fruits, veggies, nuts, etc, whereas inside under the upper market is the meat and cheese market.  Everything appeared to be extremely fresh, and colorful.  Each season would bring somewhat different items.  Right now, there were plenty of the fall/winter veggies – including fresh made saurer kraut.  As you enter the upper market area there is a statue of a villager wearing a traditional dress and head scarf, with a basket of produce – very appropriate. It was extremely interesting to people-watch the people behind the produce stand, selling their produce – lots of personality.    

Live Nativity

Due to being here on Christmas Day, when most places are closed, our group has decided to cook our own Christmas meal.  American, Canadian and Australian tastes are compatible.   We also decided to have soup on the evening of Christmas Eve – broccoli soup and chicken noddle soup.  It was fun buying things at the market for these two meals.  For Christmas Day our contribution is mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and baked squash. 

Zagreb has a Green Horseshoe – in other words a U-shaped belt of parks, squares and museums, with the main train station at the south end and the Jelacic Square at the top (north) end.  There are Christmas markets on two blocks, and a huge ice skating rink in the longest park area.  It is absolutely lovely! 

Even though places are very close in proximity, you can go on a continuous stroll.  Each day we strolled to different parts of the city, returning to these parts again at night when all the lights were lite. Places are lovely during the day, but it becomes magical when the lights are lite.  

Naïve Art

Winter Ball

Anniversary - 51 Years

We went to the Croatian Museum of Naive Art.  It is interesting art, as it is really a folk art.  We really enjoyed the peasant scenes.  We also went to the Broken Relationships Museum – a lot of this was about ‘summer loves’, and “giving up the first love”.  The museum really was not what I expected. 

Christmas Eve afternoon, in the Main Square (Jelacic Square), tables were set up so that there were 10 serving stations, serving a traditional fish soup to anyone who wanted to wait in line for it.  They also set up tables on which you could eat your soup standing up.  Beside the large bowl of dried cod fish soup, you received bread. The square was FULL of people eating fish soup.  This traditional meal was provided by the city of Zagreb.  We had no desire to taste it, even though we were invited to do so.  

The Cathedrals in Zagreb were open, after our disappointment in other places.  Most of them are Roman Catholic, but there was one Orthodox church with a lovely icon screen.  

Tonight, Christmas Eve, our group of 10 ate a lovely soup dinner together, (however, no fish soup!).   

Friday, December 22, 2017: Plitvice National Park to Zagreb

There has been fresh snow of several inches in this area within the last week.  Some of it is still clinging to the trees, the ground is covered, but the roads are clear. 

We still have a few miles to the Park, through a very poor economic area.  We do not know what this was like before the war, but it has not rebounded very rapidly.  Only one entrance is open at the park, and parking was limited due to snow in the parking lots.  However, there are very few visitors at this time of the year, and due to the snow and ice, about half of the park walkways are closed. 

Plitvice National Park is known for its lakes and water falls. There are many water falls, both upper and lower.  The big falls is eye catching with several smaller falls below it.  When we entered the park the information lady told us that the lower pathways were closed because of the ice and snow.  As we walked into the park we naturally took a trail that headed toward the big falls. We stayed on the most cleared path which lead us to the lower trail.  None of the paths were closed, so we kept walking, even though the boardwalks between the lower lakes were frosty.  Cherie and Cal continued walking the boardwalk toward the big falls.  The last portion of the boardwalk was quite icy and required caution, but they made it.  The view from the bottom of the falls was amazing.  The formations of the falls are interesting.  Water cascades over dams of limestone formations. 

Big Waterfalls in the Lower portion of the Park

Smaller Falls along the icy boardwalk we did not walk

From where Rachel waited, another boardwalk continued around and over lakes to the destination of a boat ramp.  The condition of the boardwalk appeared to be extremely icy at places, with no handrails.  We decided to return to the higher trail that was better, but it was still snow covered in many places.  Many of the other visitors in the park that morning, were from S Korea and did not appear adept at walking on the snow.  We made it to the boat dock with enough time to have a cup of tea at the kiosk before the boat arrived.  The boat ride took us past numerous other lower falls.  The scene was very enjoyable.

The Boat in the Distance

The Snowy Trail

Some of the many Small Waterfalls along the boat ride

When we got off the boat we took a shuttle half of the way back to the parking lot and walked the remainder of the way to the car. Thank goodness, we were dressed warmly.  When the sun was shining it was very pleasant, but when it was cloud covered, you needed all the warmth you had.  We were walking in the park for at least 3 hours – it was cold enough the snow and ice were not melting.   

When we arrived at the car we were soon on our way toward Zagreb.  Along the highway we went through an area where we saw a few buildings that appeared to still have some war evidence, but it was a small area.  It has been 25 years since the war, and they are trying to rebuild, so life is back to normal.  

We made a stop in the town of Slinj.  The old town area is near the main highway, and you hear waterfalls as you drove by.  Then you realize they have provided a pull-out area for viewing.  This is an extremely interesting place. The houses, restaurants, and shops appeared to be built along or over the river, so that there were water falls around and under the houses and shops, dropping into the ravine below.  There were numerous water falls on the edge of the town as the water went over the low cliff also into the ravine nearby.  The sun was not in a good position when we were there - in our face, which made photographing difficult, but it was amazing.

Waterfalls in Slinj

The Beautiful and Pristine Croatian Countryside

Our next destination is the apartment in Zagreb.  The GPS took us right there – no guessing regarding one-way streets! It was surprisingly easy to find the apartment that is in the center of Zagreb. After unloading the car, Cherie and Cal took the car to a nearby parking garage where we have left the car while we are in Zagreb.     

Traditional Zagreb Meat and Cheese Platter

Our Zagreb Group