On our first night in Croatia, we went searching for a restaurant in Mlini. While we were down by the sea in the bay, we heard the sound of car horns beeping, and lots of them – like suburban crickets had somehow taken over the roads and were ready to take on the human race. Actually, if the suburban crickets had taken control of the roads, they’d be in a pretty good possession to take on the human race. I sincerely hope that none of the readers of this blog are of that persuasion.

Anyway, we had thought it was due to the football against Andora, but we’ve since discovered this is a wedding related tradition. The entire wedding party drive through the streets and sound the horn generally makiing as much noise as they pass. In the case of Split, we saw someone leaning out the window with a video camera, capturing all this excitement and people waving back into the cars, which seemed like a nice touch.

Speaking of weddings, we have arrived and will shortly be leaving Zagreb. We took the train from Split overnight, and slept the entire journey, before waking up wide-eyed and bushy tailed in Zagreb. Except for the sleeping part. The train journey is probably the only set of train tracks in the entire world that is based on a Grand Prix track. My understanding, is that when the railways are built, if something gets in the way, you get it out of the way so that the tracks are as straight as humanly possible. According to GCSE History, this is exactly what happened what happened in the UK. If you happened to be a farmer who owned land in the way …. you had to sell. Something went wrong in Croatia though, and every 5 minutes we were woken up as the train hurtled around another chicane. It was definitely an experience though, and I highly recommend it, if just for the wash pack and 7-day croissant (Pete hates those things!). So called because the croissants will last for 7 days and not taste any different to the first day. Take what you will from that 🙂

The first thing we noticed about Zagreb upon leaving the train at 6am, is that that Zagreb is cold. Really cold. “Oh that’s not good”, I said between shivering, “What isn’t?” mumbled Pete as he walked/slept at the same time. “I can see my breath”. Cold. The second thing we noticed as we left the station, is that it was even colder outside the station.

The capital is actually very different from the towns we’d been to so far. And not just because it was cold and much bigger. Previously, there was a very precise formula of “sea, followed by cafes and shops, and mountains”. There’s no sea here, but they have kept fairly close to the mould by keeping everything in the same order, from the river. More excitingly, everything is really really easy to find, and you don’t go and find the sea to find it. Instead, Zagreb has one of those city square things. Everything is really easy to walk to from Trg bana Jelacica, and all of the tram lines seem to pass through here. It’s a bit of a shame to arrive on Sunday when almost everything is closed, but there is still plenty to see, if not do.

We got the tram from the railway station towards the Hotel Ilica, where we stayed yesterday, and have a second night tonight. This is without a doubt a really brilliant hotel. I really can’t do it justice by description alone, but the woman at reception greeted us while holding a small dog that Paris Hilton would be proud of. As we walked closer to the room, we were already very impressed by the hotel furnishings, but stopped at the doorway. Double bed. Back down the stairs we go, hoping to change the room for a twin. Back up the stairs, concierge leading the way. “Yes, two beds” she said as she showed us the almost second room just around the corner. We have no less than; 1 single, 1 double bed, shower with head that stays up on its own (has rarely happened on this trip), a small oven / grill, balcony with 3 seats and table, 28″ widescreen LCD TV, DVD player, writing desk, fridge/freezer, and loads more. The room just looks great, and I can’t wait to put the pictures up – but check out their web site at www.hotel-ilica.hr to get some sort of idea.

If their was room in my bag, I would pack Hotel Ilica right up and stuff it in alongside the mini goth club to bring home.

It’s quite likely that Pete will murder me for this entry, but I have to write it anyway. I sent a text message back to the UK last night … “We’re in an Indian restaurant and my mate (Pete) has actually asked the waiter if the food should really be this hot.” We went out to an Indian restaurant for Pete’s birthday, as food of choice. It was all going well until Pete’s Spinach and Potato dish was laced with liquid fire. He tells me that it shouldn’t be hotted than the burning fires of hell, but I’m not sure – it’s an Indian restaurant after all, and the food is generally quite spicy. Anyway, Pete was very close to walking out without paying the bill, unless … unless the waiter tried his food, to make sure that it was SUPPOSED to be that hot. “It’s a vegetarian dish” said the waiter, “they’re always hotter”. Needless to say, the waiter didn’t try it, and I apparently wasn’t giving the support Pete was after, by laughing lots and apologising to the waiter. Well, mine was very nice after all 🙂

Pete rubbed his eyes, thus filling his eye sockets with that liquid fire and ensuring that “a place Pete doesn’t hurt himself” couldn’t be ticked off on holiday bingo 🙂

That’s all from Zagreb for now. More tomorrow probably, as we take a car rental back towards Split someway to the Plitvice Lakes National Park, before heading back to Zagreb on the 18th, and taking the train into Slovenia.

I’m a bit behind on this, I know. But it’s nice to add a little bit of culture to the blog, so it’s not just the hum drum “and then we did this, then this, and I went for food, and the food was like good and stuff” background noise that fills so many blogs out there. Oh yes, this blog is different to the normal. I’m all about educating people, we’re a serious travel analysis web site. People look to my blog to decide where to go on holiday… Oh who am I kidding?

Mljet is 37km long, and no wider than 3km at any point. 54 sq. km are set aside at the north western end of the island (where we stayed) as a national park. A bargain 90 kunas to enter. This is also the site of the islands only hotel. Hotel Odisej, which is a fantastic hotel with extremely helpful and friendly staff. They even provided a small picnic bag of breakfast, since we were checking out before breakfast was served in the restaurant 🙂

It is where Odysseus stayed for a while with the nymph Calypso, apparently. The length of his stay was a rather impressive 7 years. Which rather says something about the place. Or the nymph. The Ancient Greeks called the island Melita, or ‘honey’, because of all the bees in the forests. I didn’t see a single bee, but there were certainly plenty of wasps to have me flailing my arms around like a mad man, instead of eating my sea food spaghetti. The thing you have to understand about wasps is this; they really like fish. Try it, go and throw a fish near a wasps nest and see what happens. Or Google it, your choice.

Rumour has it, Greek sailors came to Mljet to shelter from storms at sea, and to gather freshwater from the springs. St Paul has been bitten by a viper there, (before the mongoose were all shipped in, of course). The Romans used the island as a place of exile back in 35 BC, before it was expanded by building a palace and baths around Polace. In the 6th century, was under control of the Byzantine Empire, and then the invasion of the Slavs and Avars on the mainland caused inhabitants of neighbouring regions onto the island back in the 7th century.

The monastery we visited (Veliki Jezero) was built in the 13th century, by the Benedictine order, on St Mary’s Island, shortly before Dubrovnik annexed the island tying their good fortunes with the city.

Mljet, ladies and gentlemen. There’s not a massive amount there. But for walking, nature and relaxing down by the sea with a cup of coffee, beer, whatever you want. This is certainly the place to be. I hasten to use the word vibrant, but Pomena is the more lively of the towns because of the hotel. My favourite has to be Polace, with its winding street, ruins, and the nicest people we met on the whole island. Polace has a small bay and port and is almost completely surrounded by mountains (okay, most places are). It is so unbelievably peaceful out there though, and well worth the boat ride.

First things first, as always – the end. We have now left behind our hotel at Mlini, and headed out towards the island of Mljet. Before doing that though, we spent our first full and last day of the Dalmatia mainland area in Dubrovnik.

Wandering around Mlini in the middle of the night, we found that there wasn’t very much to do except watch the football (6-0, Croatia v Angola) at the local bar down by the harbour where not only do they sell beers, but also put on a healthy array of Vol-a-vont’s, sausage rolls and sandwiches. Apparently football games in Croatia are what weddings are to the English.

We did finally come across a nice little restaurant that served a mean mixed grill, and a great beef looking thing served with sauce. Not to mention the recurring theme of Fish Pate which is remarkably not dissimilar to Tuna Mayo. The highlight of Mlini, according to the guide book has escaped us on this trip, but given that it’s only centuries’ old plane tree – I’m not too concerned, even if it is Tolkien-esque.

Mlini does have a nice bus stop though, helpfully situated right next to the newsagents that lovingly supplies pornographic crossword and word search puzzle books to the locals.

Don’t let the fact that the entrance to Dubrovniks old town smells of raw sewage put you off. Once up on top of the medieval walls the air is fresh and the views are fantastic. We were greeted by a huge sea of terracotta roof tiles, the original of which were all made by moulding them around a mans thigh. I’m guessing not the same man. A large number of these have since been replaced of course, not helped by the massive siege of the city in 1991-92 where shelling continued until as late as 1995. A room in the far corner marks this tragic event, and the heroes that served to keep the city alive when it was cut off from electricty, water and the rest of the world during the break up of Yugoslavia. The reason for the attack, even more tragic, was because Belgrade thought it was be an easy target that would damage the morale of the rest of Croatia. The city never fell, and instead was rejoined with the rest of the country when Croatian forces travelled from the North, resulting in one of the first big morale boosts of the war. See, there’s some recent history that I was until now completely and totally ignorant of. One of the many reasons that I was guilt-tripped into visiting the country 🙂

Dubrovnik houses many other gems for the sightseer, such as an Internet café in which we managed to put in a reservation for the only Hotel on the island of Mljet. A harbour still under reconstruction; the amazing bearded lady, or “man wearing a dress” (quite possibly the latter); a ferry timetable that you will most certainly needed several degrees in the Croatian language, as well mathematics and geography to understand. It wouldn’t hurt if you were the captain of the ferry either, I’m sure.

But nonetheless, the timetable was decipherable – and as I say, we have arrived on the island of Mljet (one of the many National Parks scattered throughout Croatia… And all that for the next entry 🙂