Breakfast at the hotel was a “homemade-style ham and cheese sandwich”. In reality it was a dry croque monsieur…I left the hotel turned 2 streets, on the way changing the few Bosnian marks I still had into Croatian kuna, left Bosnia, crossed the bridge and entered in Croatia. 
The village at the Croatian side was almost empty. Most shops seemed to be closed for good, almost no people on the street. I took a couple of turns and was on the road that would be 36 k straight…most of the houses I passed for that 36 K were empty, the ones which were not occupied by elderly people. No shops. Most farms not in operations, the ones that seemed to be in operation, dusty old machinery, most of the fields I passed were clearly not managed…Some old public displays informing me that Europe is sponsoring a return project….clearly not successful. A different Croatia then when I entered Croatia at the coast (well maintained houses, new cars, businesses,…). Also a lot of houses with bullet holes….
The views were not to bad ( taken into account the empty houses). I even got excited when the expected straight road had a small bend….In the morning the sun was somewhat hiding behind the clouds but when the morning turned in noon the clouds disappeared and it became warmer. There was also an old friend on the road..head wind….blowing from the north-west. My friend would unfortunate stay with me most of the day….
In the small city Sisak I had my lunch and a pauze in a nice city park. The next 30 K I would follow the river Sava, nice views, no people, some houses along the way, some speeding cars on the small road I was cycling. One bridge of the river…..
I was happy to arrive in Zagreb after 120 K. I was also happy that after the last weeks climbing today’s cycling had been most the time flat. I cycled to the Zagreb’s city center, via an industrial zone, on well maintained cycle paths to the hotel I booked. After checking in I did some laundry (standard practice when staying 2 night in a hotel) and had some chill time. I also decided on the route I will take to get back home…
I made a short walk through the city center and writing this post on a cafe in company of a craft beer. I have not yet decided what I will visit in Zagreb tomorrow except the Image of War museum - a museum dedicated to War photography…
Lessons learned :
- European sponsored Croatian return programs were definitely not successful.
- Poor regions can be recognised by : 3G reception only, no shops, bad roads, mostly elderly people.
- Croatian Ice cream is better then Bosniak ice cream but also not playing in the ice cream champions league
Song of the day : Don’t look back in anger - Oasis
Hallo, weer een dagje voorbij.
ReplyDeleteZag er daar maar troosteloos uit en verlaten uit.
Geniet van je dag in Zagreb.
Groetjes
Trieste toestanden aan het begin van je rit, de foto's geven dit ook weer, later werd het dan toch weer beter, Ben benieuwd naar je bezoek in Zagreb,
ReplyDelete