Croatian Honeymoon: Day 5

Adam here! So, we left off with us flying to Zagreb, Croatia from Copenhagen. It was a short hour and a half flight – although there was a crying toddler right next to us the whole way. But we were so tired we were still able to take some naps. We arrived successfully into Zagreb’s brand new airport and got through the passport check very quickly. From there we got our bags and went to the rent-a-car booth. We had booked a mini car, but they were out of those, so they gave us a free upgrade. We ended up with a brand new Audi (only 10 km. mileage). We connected with our Airbnb host before leaving the airport, and then made the quick drive into the city center where we were staying. Our Airbnb host (Filip) met us close to where we were staying to show us where to park – a very tiny, narrow alleyway which is scary knowing that we were driving a brand new car. We walked over to where we were staying and checked in. It was past 10PM, so we were extremely tired and did not waste much time before going to sleep.

The next morning we slept in until about 7AM, got ready, packed our bags, and checked out around 8. We took our bags back to the car only to find that the gate leading to where it was parked had been locked. After some frustrating moments standing outside with all our luggage, we were able to reach Filip who told us the parking area would be unlocked shortly. In the meantime, we walked into town and found a little breakfast spot called Café Tava. We both got a coffee. I got bacon and eggs, while Jessica had pancakes covered in strawberries and white chocolate. Now that the parking area was open, we took our bags and loaded them in our car so that we could explore the city. Zagreb has two main parts to the city, an upper and lower town. The whole city is very clean and everything is very nice. We began in the lower town and saw the city’s main cathedral. Close by we found the Dolac Market, where they were selling all sorts of things, ranging from fruits and veggies, to souvenirs and gifts. We wandered around some streets in the lower town, including the city’s main square, then we began the climb to the upper part of the city. It was a fairly decent climb, but once on top there were great views over the rest of the city below. We walked down the street to St. Mark’s Church and surrounding square, and saw some of the other areas in the upper town. I noticed there was a nice tower on the edge of the town, but we found out that it didn’t open until 11, so I made a mental note to come back. From there, we walked through the stone gate and back into the lower part of town. At this point, our legs were already getting tired, so we took a little break and sat down. After our break we began to climb back to the upper town because the tower was opening soon. We got there early so we strolled around a nearby park. Once the tower opened we went inside and climbed up to the top to get some great views over the whole city. Our time in Zagreb was running out, so we walked back to our car and prepared for our 3.5 hour journey to the Croatian coast to see the town of Rovinj on the Istrian Peninsula. It was definitely a long drive. We broke it up by stopping at a rest stop for some food. Once we made it to Rovinj, we checked into our nice Airbnb and had a short rest before heading out into town. It was about a ½ mile walk into town. The town is filled with brightly colored houses that are packed tightly together to form many narrow streets and alleyways. We sat down by the ocean for some time and even dipped our feet in the water (before we saw the nearby jellyfish!) Getting hungry, we walked back to our place and hopped back in the car. Our plan for dinner was a trip to Motovun, a hilltop castle town about 45 minutes away in one of the wine regions of the country. Jessica handled the driving this time around. Luckily, we were able to park most of the way up the hill leaving just a short walk to the town. We climbed to the top and walked around the castle walls for some really nice views over the valleys below. Since we were treating this as our 1 year anniversary dinner (even though it was a day early), we wanted to go somewhere exciting and fancy. We had made reservations at a restaurant called Mondo, which we had discovered by watching an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations. In addition to wine this region is very famous for their white and black truffles. Neither of us have had any type of truffles before, so we were definitely planning to try them tonight. We ordered a bottle of the house red wine to get things started. Then the restaurant brought out some complimentary tapenade (a black olive, black truffle, and oil spread) and fresh baked bread. It was great! For an appetizer we had carpaccio with parmesan, arugula, and white truffles. Also, amazing. For the main course I ordered Istrian veal with potatoes and veggies and Jessica had homemade pasta with white sauce and black truffles. I must say that truffles do not have much of a taste on their own, but together with everything else the meals were delicious. Our waiter finished it off by bringing us a shot of brandy to end the meal. By the sound of it you would think that this had been an extremely expensive meal but food (and most other things) is fairly inexpensive over here. Our entire meal came out to under $50! Then we went on a sunset walk around the castle walls before making our way through town and back to our car. We drove back to Rovinj and called it a day.