Central Europe trip, Post 7: Zagreb

From December 28th to 31st, we spent three nights in Zagreb, Croatia's capital city. This is the point at which my detailed trip notes, typed on my phone as we drove, come to an abrupt end because my phone became the primary navigation device due to Ben's phone having issues. Thus, as I'm blogging this 3.5 months and another holiday later, these Europe entries might be a little less wordy from now on! ;)

In Zagreb we stayed in the most excellently-located hotel of our trip: Hotel Dubrovnik on Ban Jelačić Square, the city's central square. From the window of our room on the fifth floor, we looked down at a pedestrian street filled with a bustling Christmas market, while trams and people dodged each other in the square around the corner. During our stay in Zagreb we didn't need to use our car at all, but could simply step out of our hotel and explore on foot. It was fantastic!

Unfortunately, however, Zagreb saw us encounter some issues with colds and tummy bugs that affected one or more of us for most of the rest of the trip. As a result, our explorations of Zagreb were not what they could have been, but here are some photos from what we did see...

Evening stroll on the first night...

Zagreb Cathedral (tallest building in Croatia!)

Crowds watching an open air nativity play

Statue in front of the cathedral

Ban Jelačić Square

A living statue busker in the square

Daytime sights in Ban Jelačić Square...

Festive tram conductors...

...and driver!

Flower sellers

Miscellaneous Zagrebian sights...

Fritule from the Christmas markets outside our hotel

Some rather large sandwiches being prepared at the market!

Pizza delivery motorbike

Zagreb Cathedral entrance up close

Another door in the same wall of the cathedral

Eroded stonework from the cathedral,
replaced in a 1990 post-Communist-era renovation

Cathedral statue

A highlight of our stay in Zagreb was our wander through the colourful Dolac farmers' market on December 30th... which happened to be our 7th wedding anniversary, and the day Finley turned 11 months old! :)

We also wandered through a nearby indoor market...

And the flower market near the main square...

...And later on I got an anniversary rose (Ben got some anniversary chocolate). :)

And that was Zagreb... vibrant, colourful, busy and festive!

On New Year's Eve we set off for our next destination: Budapest, Hungary. To be continued...