Fruitless: Day 53 - Kutina to Zagreb - Get It While It Lasts... A Big Loop Through Europe 2017

September 29, 2017

Fruitless: Day 53 - Kutina to Zagreb

Waking up to clear blue skies is such a great feeling. We had another beautiful fall moring, clear, crisp and a light wind from the south east. We were heading north west. Life is good.

We had a little shorter day in front of us and were anticipating getting to Zagreb and having the opportunity to put our feet up for a day and take a rest. The ride today built on the good day we had yesterday. The landscape continued to gradually change. We were moving away from the Sava river and getting into hillier terrain . Not big hills, but enough that you had to work a little to go up, and then you got rewarded with a good coast down.

The Croatian bike route N3 continued to show up on our Pocket Earth map. This is what we had been following for the last two days, however today when I got PE to chart a course to Zagreb today, it picked a few other roads that were off the N3 route. When we reached these points of departure we decided to give them a try and were well rewarded. There were more hills, but even less (almost no) traffic) and there was much less development along the road. It was similar to riding in rural France … and that’s good! A beautiful day of riding!

Once again thanks to the tailwind, we made excellent time into Zagreb and found the simple but clean and well located apartment that we booked (less than 40 euros per night). Both K and I were craving something different to eat (no more big plates of grilled meat or glowing mystery burgers!) and we were very well rewarded at Gallo, an Italian seafood restaurant the we found in the Michelin green guide for Zagreb. We had a superb dinner and a very good bottle of Croatian Pinot Grigio, selected with the help of an excellent waiter. We were the first people in the restaurant, but by the time we were done the place was full! A first for us in Croatia!
However, we still had our lunch time twilight zone experience. We pulled into Ivanic Grad right at noon. The Church bells were ringing as we were slowing riding up and down the streets in the centre of this town of 15,000 people. Bar with people drinking beer, café with people smoking and sipping coffee, another bar, another café … and so on and so on …

We were about to admit defeat and try to find a grocery store and fend for ourselves, when K spotted a woman eating what looked like some sort of hamburger at an ice cream place. We pulled up and after a short discussion, we found out that we could get one of these too! A cevapi. Basically a fried bun with a few mildly spiced sausages in it, garnished with some raw onion. Not bad actually. Good thing too, cause it was the only thing in town.

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After polishing off our ‘sausage burgers’ and still feeling the need for something with a few essential vitamins, we decided that we’d each have a banana split. K went into the shop to order them and returned with two plain bowls of ice cream. She then informed me that unfortunately, today the shop did not have any bananas. We were both obviously in a good mood today because rather than throw a stushie (how can a place not have bananas?) we both burst out laughing, and we knew that we had …

Song of The Day…

Yes, We Have No Bananas by Frank Silver and Eddie Cantor … there are so many versions of this song to pick from (including the Muppets Swedish Chef version that really fits the farce aspect of this whole episode) … but this one is the best!

The Silk Roads loaded and ready to go - the room in the back is where they spent the night. We've found that the majority of the hotels and pensions we've stayed at have excellent bike storage

nice blue sky, hills and trees ... this is a lot better than a flood dyke!

This house colour reminds us of rural Quebec

the walls are built with very sturdy timbers ... the roof ... not so much

The entire area is starting to take on a more Austrian / Tyrolean feel ... wood houses with steep roofs and bedecked with flowers. We are now starting to see proper foothills to the north ... the Alps are coming!

Look at this - a pumpjack near Ivanic Grad, about 30 km west of Zagreb

lunch in Ivanic Grad .... we had to play Where's Waldo again just to find this delectable meal .... 15,000 people in this place, dozens of café / bars serving .... coffee and beer (and nothing else) ... and this place ... an ice cream shop where we just by chance saw a lady eating one of these ... a cevapi ... basically a fried bun with some sausages inside with onions on the side ... tried to get a Banana split afterwards ... fruitless endeaovur

Mr Michelin had several recommendations for Zagreb ... this wonderful Italian seafood restaurant was a short stroll from our apartment ... We were both feeling the need for a little pork and cheese detox! More of this to come when we hit the coast in a couple of days!

Finally into Zagreb ... superb seafood dinner at Gallo .. a short walk from our apt.

... followed by tuna and polenta in a wine sauce

I had a delectable grilled calamari with a side of chard, garlic and potatoes

our table was beside the kitchen ... not fully open, it was behind glass, but we could watch the actiom

Today's ride: 93 km (58 miles)
Total: 3,879 km (2,409 miles)

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