I stumbled upon Zagreb on a long train ride from Austria, past incredible alpine scenery, where the only thing that seemed to be missing were alphorns and blonde girls named Heidi yodeling from the hilltops. It was picture perfect. The train criss-crossed the snowcapped peaks of the Austrian Alps, then ran past the verdant plains of Slovenia, and stopped for a while near pristine Lake Bled. I spent one whole afternoon on the train but at the very least, the majestic views kept me entertained during the long train ride to Croatia.
zagreb’s st. mark’s church, standing beside croatia’s parliament buildings
After what must have been 6 hours, we finally left the European Union and were officially in Zagreb, Croatia. The gritty, random Soviet style apartment buildings that greeted me that evening before we stopped at the train station threw me off a bit with respect to my impression of Croatia. The azure seas, beach-side villas and medieval, fortified cities were nowhere to be found – Dalmatia, the thin strip lining the Adriatic Sea, was a hundred miles away. I was to have a one day trip in Zagreb. And I was there without any clue on things to see or do in city.
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