The week began in Croatia where we were spending a few days, and finished back home in Alicante.
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I started Sunday morning with my usual early walk in Dolac market:
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Then we embarked on our second day trip of the trip, to the town of Rijeka on the Adriatic coast:
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We walked around Rijeka a bit. In the harbour there were a lot of not very shy and very well-fed seagulls:
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We found a good restaurant to have lunch. I especially liked the vine leaves stuffed with ground beef:
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In the evening, back in Zagreb, we headed for the Opativina street near our hotel to what became our favourite place to have dinner, a lively restaurant with a large terrace, and good beer selection, one of my key requirements:
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Monday morning started just like Sunday morning, with a walk in the market. A woman was buying yellow peppers:
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At the top of the stairs leading up to Upper Town from the market, there is a statue of Kumica, the Croatian word for a country woman. It is a monument to the hard-working farmer women:
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Then we drove to a castle about 150 km north of Zagreb that my wife wanted to see, followed by a drive to a lovely small town called Samobor. My wife found a local restaurant serving traditional local food, with wild mushrooms and boar featuring prominently on the menu:
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Samobor is only 15-20 km from Zagreb and we very much enjoyed walking along the river:
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One of several covered bridges in Samobor:
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Enjoying the outdoors, despite the afternoon heat:
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Before returning to Zagreb for our last evening there, we passed through the wine district around the town of Plesivica, the closest wine growing area to Zagreb. We did not go to any wineries, since we could not bring any wine home anyway (travelling with carry-on luggage only) but we did enjoy the view of the town and the vineyards:
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We did taste various Croatian wines during our stay, and some of the native grapes were very nice:
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We had to be out of our apartment by 10 on Tuesday morning, and our flight home was in the afternoon. So we took our stuff to the car and walked around the Upper Town for a while. On the way from the parking we passed this sign that did not cease to amuse me. It warns against falling objects in a place where the sidewalk is narrow and the adjacent road is quite busy, so there is really no option but to walk under that spot:
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We took the funicular to the Upper Town and walked towards the iconic St. Mark’s church, with the emblems of Croatia (left) and Zagreb (right) on the roof:
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One of the most famous spots in Zagreb is the Stone Gate. It was originally built in 1266, but was destroyed in the great fire of Zagreb in 1731. However, a painting of Virgin Mary survived the fire, something which was considered a miracle. Since then, the Stone Gate has been a place of worship:
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The shrine is lined with tiles thanking the Virgin for her help, or asking for it:
Afterwards, we walked back to the car park, drove to the airport and flew home. A full gallery of Zagreb is here, while photos from our day trips outside Zagreb are here.
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I went back to work during the rest of the week, and as usual, each day started with a walk on the beach with Mochi:
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Apparently there had been a bit of rain while we were away, or else this car has been parked since the spring rains. When it rains here, fine dust blown north from the Sahara sometimes comes down with the rain:
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Mochi meets a cousin:
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Paw prints in the sand. Dogs are not allowed on our beach, a completely stupid prohibition since the real polluters of the beach are people who leave behind cigarette butts, bottles and all other manner of garbage, while dog walkers religiously pick up any poop their dog may produce. In any event, early in the morning there are few people on the beach, so the prohibition is widely ignored:
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Typical beach bar on Playa San Juan. Those bars, called chiringuitos, are set up during the summer months, from June to September:
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Pigeon party at 100 Montaditos:
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Some of the local wildlife:
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Someone had pizza for dinner and could not be bothered to walk to the paper container:
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Life priorities:
