Packed up and ready to go, headed out for Zagreb. We pointed our tiny rental car, a Renault Clio, to Zagreb. This time we skipped the back country roads that dipped and turned and headed for the larger roads and a toll road. The toll road was very efficient and paying the toll was super easy, cash or card was fine.
Can you believe three suitcases, 3 backpacks and the three of us fit in this little car? It was a tight squeeze
Several construction sites. At the first one a stop light told you whether to stop or go controlling traffic. At another one a man with a two sided paddle about the size of a ping pong paddle told you whether to stop or go based on the color of paddle he showed you. At this construction site the paddle is about 3 inches across and very difficult to see. If you look carefully you can see the small red circular paddle.
Once at our hotel in the city center we got out to explore a little and find lunch. We headed toward the old town and found an eatery down an alleyway that had wonderful handmade pasta dishes.
Zagreb’s cathedral is under renovation so we couldn’t go in
Many of the buildings in Zagreb have damage but we don’t know if what we are seeing is a result of bombings in 1995 or from the earthquake they suffered in 2000.
Many of the buildings have pieces that have fallen off and have not been repaired
There were lots of bikes zipping around town with people getting around and also bike delivery services. We saw some bike infrastructure like this bike lane on the sidewalk. In addition, when driving into Zagreb at one of the large intersections they had great bike access from all sides of the intersection with painted off bike lanes and crossings lined out with yellow lines and red paint to indicate where the bikes go. That said overall it’s chaotic. Bikes, motor scooters, and pedestrians vying for a place to walk as cars park half on half off of paved sidewalks in officially marked spaces. The trolley and car lanes are shared. Parking on some streets is literally between the trolley/car tracks.
This bike lane was up on the sidewalk, have to watch out for pedestrians straying into the bike lane….
