We travelled here with fellow blogger https://txikitales.com/
We flew with Monarch airlines http://www.monarch.co.uk/ from Manchester early on the Saturday, so with a late flight back on the Monday it meant we got 3 full days in Zagreb. Great flight times for a short break.
I had pre booked a taxi from the airport with https://www.jamtransfer.com/ and it was £45 return between the four if us. The service was 1st class and our driver Tomislav was so friendly. It was about a 25 min transfer and Tomislav give us lots of local knowledge on our journey. He arrived promptly on Monday for our return journey to the airport too. I would not hesitate to book with this company again in the future. Have used them in France too and I would highly recommend.
We stayed at http://www.hotelacademia.hr/hotel-academia/ in a 2 bedroom apartment.
We booked via booking.com and for 2 nights it cost £230 which for the location and quality of the apartment was an absolute bargain. It was spotless and so spacious. All the staff were really friendly and very helpful. Could not fault this place.
Each bedroom had an en-suite
We had a lounge area and a dining room and a huge kitchen too.
The terrace got the sunshine on a morning great for a cheeky bucks fizz !
It was a lovely place to relax on an afternoon, after exploring the city. There is a Spar supermarket in the same complex so very handy for getting in drinks and nibbles for the apartment.
The apartment is located at the top of one of the main streets in Zagreb.
Tkalciceva street is a beautiful street lined with restaurants and cafes.
Leading down onto the main square called Jelacic Square.
Once we had left our bags at the apartment we set out to explore what Zagreb had to offer. We decided to stop and have breakfast on the way down Tkalciceva street. We chose a lovely cafe in the sun and had their breakfast special.
We had a lovely coffee, glass of fresh apple juice, a glass of water and a cheese and ham toastie. This cost us about £2.50 a head bargain.
After breakfast we headed down to Jelacic Square via the flower market called Dolac market. The flowers were so cheap and they smelt amazing.
There was a lovely farmers market on and we noticed a huge line of people at one of the stalls ? So we headed over to investigate. It was the "sausage" stall. They were giving out free sausage, mustard and bread. So "when in Rome" we decided to join the line !
It was nice to be able to share our adventure with our special friends too.
They were doing some work on the building but had the scaffolding covered with a screen which had a picture of the cathedral on it which made it look great, lots better than seeing all the scaffolding.
The detail on the building was so intricate.
The grounds outside the cathedral were lovely too.
We had a lovely coffee just down the road from the cathedral one day at a cafe called Amelie. Check out the reviews here.
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g294454-d2254609-Reviews-Amelie-Zagreb_Central_Croatia.html
We had a nice coffee and some cake sat on a lovely outdoor terrace.
We headed back towards Tkalciceva street and stopped at a outdoor bar
http://www.pivovara-medvedgrad.hr/mali-medo/
A local beer was about £1.80 and wine was a similar price too.
After lunch we decided to head up to take a look at St Mark's church. Having done some research ahead of our trip we headed up a handy flight of wooden stairs I had found on google maps, they are just off Tkalciceva street and take you straight into the old town at the top. There are about 250 steps.
After working up a thirst it would have been rude not to call into the oldest pub in Zagreb. The old Rooftop pub, it's 200 years old.
Check out the reviews here. This was one of the cheapest places we found for a drink. It was about £6 for 4 drinks.
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g294454-d8092540-r360174530-Pod_Starim_Krovovima-Zagreb_Central_Croatia.html
After a short rest we wandered down to take a look at St Marks Church. A beautiful building.
After chilling out at the apartment for a while we were ready and raring to go again we headed back out to find a place for our evening meal. Having walked past the Sri Lankan Curry Bowl earlier we decided to go back there and check it out.
It was clearly a very popular place so we couldn't get a table outside so we opted to sit inside as the smell of curry was drawing us in. We all tried a different dish and all of our meals were lovely and so so tasty.
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g294454-d9561502-Reviews-Curry_Bowl-Zagreb_Central_Croatia.html
All the staff were really friendly and we thoroughly enjoyed our meals.
After our lovely meal we had a wander a few drinks.
We headed past Jelacic Square across the main road and over into what they call Flower Square. We sat and did some people watching sat at Bar Bonita.
We walked up past the cathedral one night too and it looked great all lit up.
We packed lots into our first day and couldn't wait to explore some more.
On our second morning we wandered down Tkalciceva street and found another lovely place for breakfast.
We all opted for the breakfast special which came with a lovely coffee.
It was very tasty and the waiter was really friendly.
While the skies were clear we decided to head down to the Zagreb observation desk. It's called Zagreb 360. https://www.zagreb360.hr/en/
It cost about £4 per person. There are some fantastic views from the top.
A really great way to view the city.
Zagreb has so many places to explore.
The gardens around Marshal Tito Square are really pretty and lovely to sit and watch the world go by.
Zagreb is so clean and everywhere is spotless with some lovely floral displays.
After relaxing on our terrace for a couple of hours on the afternoon.
We headed to a local Indian restaurant which was about a 5 min walk from our apartment.
http://www.royal-india-zagreb.com/
Again another popular place but they found us a table. We were all really impressed with our meals.
Check out the reviews on trip advisor.
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g294454-d4346195-Reviews-Royal_India_Restaurant-Zagreb_Central_Croatia.html
After our Indian meal we headed back up near our apartment to a great bar called Booze & Blues to watch some live music. http://www.booze-and-blues.com/en/
The local talent was called Groovebox and we managed to get a lovely table and had a few drinks while we watched the band. It was a very funky bar.
We saw some people dancing in the park in traditional costume.
On our last morning we stopped by a little cafe called Sjedi 5 http://cafesjedi5.com/ with a lovely terrace outside. They do a specialty coloured coffee, very pretty.
They don't have a breakfast menu but we had a croissant and some chocolate rolls.
Then we headed down to check out the Zagreb Funicular, situated on Tomic Street.
This takes you up to the old town into the St Mark's church area.
On our last day we had a look round the fruit and veg market. Everything looked so fresh and we got some really juicy strawberries.
We also visited a antique market while we were there. It is held in British Square every Sunday morning. We saw some great things but needed a car to get them home as they wouldn't fit in our hand luggage. This market had a great vibe.
We watched some locals playing chess.
The highlight of our trip was a wine tasting session at Vinoteka Bornstein.
http://www.bornstein.hr/
I had read about this place before our trip and it was just round the corner from the apartment. Such a beautiful building.
We opted for the 3 wines tasting session - you could choose from 3 inland wine or 3 coastal wines - so we decided to do both between us so we all got to taste 6 wines.
Our host Joseph was such a lovely guy and made us feel so welcome. It was such a relaxing few hours.
We opted for a cheese , meat and pate platter to share. It was lovely just sat tasting the wine and having a nibble.
Joseph was so knowledgeable and really knew lots about the wine.
The inland wines were so light and crisp. We got a healthy glass of each wine to try and Jospeh would just leave us to savour the moment before coming back with the next one to try.
These are the wines we tried.
You could purchase the wine but again the hand luggage wouldn't allow.
This was a really old bottle of wine on display.
Overall this was one of the highlights of our holiday and Joseph was such a fantastic host.
A great experience and one to be repeated the next time we visit for sure.
Loved these quotes
Can't believe we were only in Zagreb for 3 days we seemed to see so much. We will going again for sure.
Zagreb airport is new and is one of the most relaxing airports we have ever visited, was so quiet and spotlessly clean.
Until the next time
xx
Looks great - will add it to the bucket list
ReplyDeleteReally need to go to this place .It sounds perfect
ReplyDeleteIf you go you must do the wine tasting it was fab ! Em x
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