Week was very busy work-wise and I didn't have much more time outside of work. During the evening I was just busy with my other duties and preparation for a weekend trip. We had a release and that didn't help much. By the end of the week work load backed off and on Thursday I was already in day-off mood.
We went to see monumental military parade that was happening just across the street. I just hope that this is the only occasion to see war machines in street.
In the evening I went to get my brother to bus station. Zagreb was still recovering from that parade that finished just couple of hours ago. Soldiers in uniforms were everywhere, roads still closed to public transport, city workers busy with deconstructing and removing parade-related equipment.
Next day we departed from Zagreb to Train station. Train was already there, looked modern but not new. Departure was smooth. Only surprise was that we had to transfer to bus due to construction works but we managed to do that as well. Soon we arrived to Koprivnica (had to write an email to my language exchange buddy) and our journey began.
Majority of the road was asphalt, or gravel. We first headed to north until we reached Drava river and then we followed it against stream to the west. At some point we got to the hydro-plan and soon after lake or was it mor a dam? There we improvised a bit and used asphalt road just next to the lake. It was smooth.
I estimated this trip with optimistic and pessimistic scenarios and we were much faster that the optimistic one. We arrived to the Varazdin at about 13:30, managed to get some drink and wait for the Veronika to arrive. Then we went to our accomodation and after shower we went to city center to explore.
Varazdin left very positive impressions. Small compact historical town.
Next day we departed in the morning at about 8:30. Weather was okay, gray, occasionally it was lightly drizzling. I feared that we'll get into proper rain and already saw it far north-west. But we were very lucky and somehow evaded it all. Only surprise was when we got to another hydro-plan but couldn't cross it to the other side. We had to use alternative road that costed us about 20 min. Another one was road construction that blocked our path a bit but we were able to cross wooden fence and continue. Border we without officials and building were empty. Gates were open and that mattered a lot.
We had a lot of time but wanted to spare it as much as possible for Maribor and because of unpredictable weather. Therefore we didn't explore Ormož, nor Ptuj even though I'd love to. Both cities looked historical and I'm sure both would offer something nice to see. With exception to a small brear at Ptuj we just continued on our road. By the last third of the road we went either via corn field grave-paths or asphalt road in the villages. Villages that we passed were in unbelievably good shape. I imagine that this is how Beverly Hills in Hollywood looks like not some random village in Slovenia.
When we got to the Maribor, we unfortunately didn't have much time for an exploration so we just bought train tickets and went quickly to the center for a drink and back. Train was again modern, on time and everything was smooth.
When we arrived to Graz, I realized that our hotel is another 15min of ride from the train station. It was just at that point I realized how big Graz is. And it was really nice.
Hotel room was clean and warm. We took shower and went for a meal, but it started raining and we took closest option. It wasn't bad for me, I really liked my curry wurst. Then we went to an Irish pub for a good beer.
We got 4 beers that evening and spent time with random stranger with polish roots. Could barely understand him since he was using Polish, German and English language sometimes in same sentence.
Next day we just checked out and went on Schlossberg to pass our time.
Our journey ended in Graz and I went back to Maribor, while my brother went to Vienna.
Since I had plenty of time I explored Maribor close center.
Observation
- Croatian villages are in much better shape that those I see in Slovakia.
- Slovenian villages are in much better shape that those I saw in Croatia.
- Varazdin, Maribor, Graz all had great cycling infrastructure. I'm was not surprised by Graz, but Slovenian and Croatian did surprise me.
Training
- 186km cycling
Backlog
- Legs are tired, have to rest a little
- NE and NW parts of Zagreb are the only parts unexplored