Day 15 - Budapest to Zagreb

 So much for the crossed fingers, it was peeing down this morning, so out came the waterpeoofs.Still, 14 days without, was pretty good going.

First stop about 300 metres away, for fuel. Riding down and across wet tram rails isn't fun. Reminded me of Leverkusen back in 2014.

Finding our way out of Buidapest wasn't too bad, just the rain can be a big distraction. We'd been on the road about 2 hours and the rain never really stopped, until we did for coffee. We were tempted to take the waterproofs off but there were still some spots coming down, so we opted to keep them on, despite us both sweating buckets underneath them, in 21 degrees! It was the right decision. It rained for almost the entire time we remained in Hungary, but crossing the border into Croatia, the sun burst through and the temperature rose. Before our next fuel stop, we stopped and took the waterproofs off, it was that warm. Fuel stop and another coffee stop followed, before we reached Zagreb. Another longish day in the saddle.

Another new country

We followed the usual format, freshen up and out. I had only 4 things on our sightseeing list, as I knew we would be short of time and had to slot dinner in somewhere.

First up, the Cathedral. Probably quite a nice looking building, except the 2 spires were covered in scaffolding and there were 2 huge cranes bloking the view. Probablty the worst picture you'll get of a Cathedral.

Zagreb Cathedral, built 2023!

My phone was playing up, so from memory I guided us to the next attraction, another funicular. Not just any funicular though, this one claims to be the shortest in the world! We rode it to the top in about 1 minute flat, to my next attraction, the Lotrščak Tower. Disappointingly, we arrived about 1 minute too late for the final entrance! It was all steps anyway, so Grizzly wouldn't have climbed up. Still, 2 of my three attractions on this very quick tour had been damp squibs. Finally, to my last attraction, St Mark's Church. Would you feckin' believe it, that too was covered in scaffolding and you couldn' get near it. After having such a good night in Budapest, Zagreb was a 75% failure!

The Shortest Funicular in the World

St Mark's Church, under construction apparently!

We made our way to what seems to be the main street for eating/drinking, actually the one our hotel is on, and nabbed a table at Pivnica Mali Medo. They do exactly what we were looking for, traditional Croation grub and local brews. Another attraction of the place, if you like, is they have a young lady singing live from an upstairs window, with a chap on guitar standing behind her. Different. We sang along where we could. 😉

The singing window lady

Fed and watered, we made our way back to the hotel. It's two late nights for Grizzly and boy does he need his beauty sleep! 😂 He's not the only one though. Every morning I look in the mirror at two big bags under my eyes. It's hard work being a tour guide you know.

Grizzly, multitasking!

Tomorrow, is ferry time. If you are stauch supporters of the Wild Hogs blogs, you know, we usually end up on at least one ferry per tour. Tomorrow we shall be crossing from mainland Croatia, to the island of Zab, and staying in a holiday resort at Lopar. Should be interesting. We have D, B&B board, eat as much as you like buffet I expect, so that will suite Grizzly.

Catch you then.