After our 14 hour flight, we arrived in Croatia looking forward to see what this adventure will bring. Luca, our Trafalgar assigned driver, was waiting for us with his sign and promptly whisked us into a nice air conditioned vehicle. Since we arrived on the day Anti-Fascist Struggle Day is celebrated, everything was closed and the drive to the hotel was quick, 20 minutes instead of the usual 90 minutes.
And since everything was closed, we ended up eating at the hotel restaurant that, ironically, did not have a single Croatian dish on the menu!
30 hours after leaving home, with next to no sleep , we were in bed just as the sun was setting. We figured we’d get a good nights sleep and see Zagreb in the morning.
And see Zagreb did we!
After breakfast, we packed up and headed out. We knew we were Europe for sure when all the churches we wanted to see were covered in scaffolding….We walked till we dropped in the 39C/102F temperature. We took a break in a little cafe that had a mister then off we went till we came across a beautiful yellow building that turned out to be the Croatian National Theatre. We wandered in and discovered they had tickets available for that night’s opera. Of course had to buy them as they were the best seats in the house, well actually, the second best as the box right above us is apparently where the President would sit when he comes to the opera. We shared our box with a wonderful couple, Ruzica and Robert. She spoke no English but way more than I spoke Croatian, nonetheless, we got on just the same. Her husband, Robert, spoke really good English which he said he learned when he drove a cab!
After the opera, once again , we knew we were in Europe when we walked into a restaurant at 11pm and got served a nice hot meal BUT still no Croatian food! After dinner and to the point my Fitbit couldn’t sync, we took a taxi back to the hotel to dodge the rain at 130am, way past our curfew and slept till 9am.
Saturday Morning
We had to go back to the city center to check out the Asian Street Food Festival. Once we got our 10,000 steps for the day, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the welcome reception for the official start of our Trafalgar tour.
When we got back to our hotel room, our goodies were waiting for us. We are looking forward to meeting the other Prizewinners and their guests, our Tour Director, the always excellent driver and this time all the Trafalgar crew that will be traveling with us! Stay tuned, this will be a blast 💥
World Blog 
Hi Dolores and Jay,
Just read your first 48 hours in Croatia – you let nothing get under your feet. You sound like me – I always want to see everything, not sit in a hotel. Continue to enjoy your tour and will check your blog with your exciting events of the day.
Always,
Janet