Welcome to Zagreb

Monday, September 24

The bus station was less than a mile from our apartment but since we were leaving so early in the morning we decided to take a cab.  Of course, none of the cab companies (or cab company apps) in Belgrade take reservations.  We went to sleep the night before hoping that there would be a cab available at 6:30 am.  As a last resort we would still have time to walk as our bus was not scheduled to leave until 7:30 am.

As usual we were ready early.  At 6:10 am we used an Uber-like app to call a cab and three minutes later someone was at our doorstep.  When the driver learned that our bus was not leaving for over an hour he actually laughed at us.  We’d rather be early and avoid any drama.  Famous last words.

We’d planned our cash fairly well.  We started the day with 650 Dinars.  150 went to the driver as a tip, 200 for coffee and 100 for two trips to the bathroom left us with just 200 Dinars or $2.00 that, as is our custom, we would leave in Zagreb.  Of course it couldn’t be that easy.

With 15 minutes to go before our bus’ scheduled departure time we tried to pass through the gates to enter the area where the busses were parked.  An attendant stopped us and asked for our tickets.  We showed him our tickets but he seemed to indicate that he was looking for something else.  We came to understand that we needed to purchase a separate ticket just to get to the bus.  He told us to go to window 2.

We ran over to window 2 and showed the attendant our two bus tickets.  He said 180 Dinars.  We gave him cash and he gave us a ticket.  He didn’t accept credit cards.  If you’re keeping track that means that we were down to only 20 Dinars.  Talk about graft and corruption!

We hurried back to the gate and handed our new ticket to the attendant but he only let Deborah through.  He said we needed two tickets.  The bus was scheduled to leave in ten minutes, only one of us was able to get to the bus and we had no more cash.  Deborah waited by the gate and I ran back over to window 2 and told him that I needed another ticket but had no money.  He just shrugged.  I asked if there was a cash machine nearby and he pointed.

Now running, I and my luggage found a cash machine about 100 feet away.  I tried to get just 500 Dinars but it said it was unable to fulfill my request.  I assumed that it didn’t have any small bills and tried for 1,000 Dinars.  Same result.  One last try at 5,000 Dinars also met with rejection so I ran back over to Deborah and screamed, “give me all the EUROs you have!”.

Running even faster I went back to window 2 and offered the man EUROs.  He said that I had to go over to the exchange window.  I told him that I had no time left but he didn’t care.  He repeated his previous instructions.

I found the exchange window fairly quickly.  The lady in front of me was just completing a transaction.  Before leaving the window she counted her change three times.  Thoughts of murder passed through my mind.  😡 I handed the clerk a five EURO note and asked for change.  This was going to be close.

Back at window 2 I finally got my ticket and ran for the gate.  This time I got past the attendant and found Deborah standing in front of the bus explaining to the driver that he couldn’t leave until her husband got there.  We handed our luggage over to the baggage person and he said, “two EUROs”.  What?!  We had paid for our ticket AND the bogus fee to get to the bus and NOW we had to pay for our baggage?  More graft and corruption!  It was just too much.  I didn’t even have any EUROs.  He saw the bills in my hand and just took what he wanted in Dinars.  I didn’t care.  I just wanted to get on that damn bus!

Finally on the bus we settled in for the six hour ride to Zagreb.  It was a Greyhound style bus but without a bathroom or WIFI but we came prepared with empty bladders and a packed lunch.  After what we just went through the rest of the trip had to be smooth sailing.

When we got to the Serbian border the bus pulled over to the side of the road and waited about 30 minutes before a border patrol agent entered, collected all of our passports and exited through the rear.  Our driver came through the bus and handed everyone’s passport back to them.  That was a big waste of time.

Just a minute later we got to the Croatian border.  After another 30 minute wait we were told to exit the bus with our carry ons, collect our luggage from the belly of the bus and enter the customs building where, one by one, every piece of luggage was opened and subjected to a search.  After that we waited on line for a border patrol agent to examine and stamp (yeah!) our passports.  Deborah was the last person out of the building.  I stood in front of the bus and waited for her.  The driver yelled at me three times.  He wanted me to board the bus but I stood my ground and waited for Deborah to clear customs so we could board together.  The bus was now behind schedule and the driver didn’t even wait for us to get in our seats before pulling out of the station at high speed.

We arrived at the main Zagreb bus station about 30 minutes late and called an Uber for the 15 minute trip to our new apartment.  The driver seemed to be looking for a tip but every time we’ve used Uber we’ve paid the tip through the app – except, of course, in Zagreb.  For some reason there was no way to send the driver a tip.  We felt really bad about that.

Our new place is, of course, a three floor walk-up.  Not just a normal three floors but three flights consisting of 24 steps per flight (a normal flight is 12 steps).  We’d really like to know who we pissed off in an earlier life (we knew it was a walk up when we booked it).  Our host was waiting to meet us and gave us a some good information about nearby grocery stores, et al.  It’s a lovely two bedroom apartment with a toilet in the hall closet.  Now we know where the term “Water Closet” comes from.  Oh the joys of traveling.

We settled in and headed to the nearest grocery store but the doors were locked.  People seemed to be inside but they weren’t open for business so we walked about a mile down the road to the LIDL where we stocked up.

We’re in a nice neighborhood that’s a 15 minute walk to the old town district.  Our initial impressions of Zagreb are that it’s much more affluent that Belgrade or Bucharest and the general architecture of the buildings is more Hungarian than Ottoman or Communist.  We’re really looking forward to seeing what Croatia has to offer.

We were so exhausted from our trip that we went to bed at 9:00 pm.

Distance walked: 3.7 miles