The metropolis of Zagreb

We have come to our final city in Croatia, Zagreb, the capital. After the mediaeval towns and brilliant waters of the coast, I wasn't expecting much, but Zagreb has cast aside my mean prejudices and leapt into my affections. I am finding it hard to imagine encountering a country that I like more than Croatia. It's capital is a light, open city of grand nineteenth century buildings, thanks to the Austro-Hungarian empire and it's draconian city planning rules. It is full of green spaces, grand avenues, and museums. There is a comprehensive network of clean modern trams which are quiet and easy to use. It is not remotely crowded, though there are people, and they are all laid back and wealthy looking. I have no idea how they do it, it doesn't seem quite real. It presents as just about the most liveable city I've ever seen.

We arrived on the train in the afternoon, and checked into Fulir hostel, run by an extremely character-filled local. Dorm room, this time - it's a great atmosphere here, though not if you just want restful sleep at whatever time you choose. We headed straight out to a free concert that was on in a park behind the beautiful neo-gothic cathedral - see what I mean about Zagreb? Apparently there's free stuff like this on all the time all through summer. And summer it is - we slept sweating, in our upstairs, barely-ventilated dorm. This morning we ventured out to find some museums - it was already nearly 30 degrees when we left - only to find that, being Monday, everything is shut, for some reason. The only thorn in an otherwise rosy town, I guess. We have spent the day doing a couple of self-guided walking tours (which, as they'd run out of english, we had to do using the french, which was poorly translated on the run by yours truly), and going to, of all places, the zoo, which had a distressing lack of any sort of staff.

We're tired, and hot, and we've got a lot of museuming to catch up on. Goodnight.