Tonight we are catching a night bus down the Croatian coast all the way to beautiful Dubrovnik. I'm sure the ride will be filled with bumps, sharp turns, and roads that would make me a little nauseous if it were light out.
No surprise, we've 'done' another city that has completely shocked me. We've spent a week here, which some (most) would argue was far too long. We really over-estimated the time needed to explore Zagreb, which is entirely our own fault. Caught in between a rock and a hard place, we couldn't leave the country for a few days because we had other reservations booked that asked for 10% down, and we couldn't leave early because we had to pay in full at the beginning of the stay. I assumed (stupid,stupid, I know) that Zagreb would be a large and bustling capital. Zagreb is a medium sized city with a great heart, and around 2 full days of action.
... So, GREAT two full exciting days!!... but what about those other five? Well, we've done our best. We went to two different mountains, a famous Croatian cemetery, and tried our best to plain ol' relax.
6 months is a really weird span of time. It's just long enough where you're actually living. I'm living in Europe, and sometimes that's really hard to grasp. Anxiety will slowly creep in when I think, "Oh Jhhheeeeeez!How can we stay here, we'll be home before we know it! We need to leave! We need to see and do!! Hurry, quick, pack your bag Erik! We've gotta GO!" ..... a few moments and a couple of deep breaths later, I do realize that I need a bit of a chill pill. I'm living here and not every day will we be seeing the Eiffel tower or seeing Charles Bridge, or.. or.. or... We both deserve a little down time.
Ready or not, Zagreb delivered just that. A big dose of 'living'. We bought a lot of groceries, drank alot of tea, and paired half a day of sight seeing with half a day of lounging.
(Interjection- this is EASILY the 'homiest' place we've stayed. It's the basement floor of a 1920's apartment complex, so it has some decent size to it. There are beautiful hard wood floors throughout, brick and stone wall and ceilings, and deliciously comfortable couches inviting you and a great read. There is also a full kitchen with everything necessary to make anything you can imagine. We've really felt at home, which probably fell right into the land slide of inevitability toward this week's slower pace. (If our internet wasn't so iffy, there'd be pictures!))
Ultimately, I'm really happy we stopped here. Zagreb is culturally rich, has excellent sea food, great caffeinated everything, and some incredible views. Despite being really happy that we came, I'm also really happy to be getting a move on.
The next stop is Dubrovnik, and I'm eager for some new land scape. It's roughly 600 km to the south of Zagreb and directly on the coast. Our apartment has a terrace that over looks the sea and will hopefully bring a brand new batch of adventures... I'm SUPER excited about this, and CANNOT wait to see what is in store for us. The town itself is almost perfectly preserved and is surrounded by some amazing islands and day adventures.
When it seems that every day is a work in progress, a new and different beast to tame, the concept of expectation becomes pretty ridiculous. Expectation is futile.
I'll keep telling myself that, but I expect that expectation is a hard habit to break.
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