2013.06.09 Sunday, Zadar
Warm sunny day with easier grades and no headwind – a pleasant 75 km ride, Zadar is another coastal town with history and an old section. I had the afternoon to spend before my train at 20:00.
The coolest thing I found in Zadar was the water organ. It is built into a section of the seawall. All you see is small holes in the seawall walk for the sound from the organ pipes. The waves drive air into and out of the pipes. Like church bells, they are tuned to play in harmony. It was a choppy sea with very small waves and the pipes hooted quietly. When the wake from a passing boat arrived, they became noisy, like fog horns in harmony. You could feel the patterns of the waves in the sound. It would be wonderful to hear it on a stormy day.
2013.06.10 Monday, Zagerb
Arrived at 06:30. Zagreb is the capital of Croatia, a big city with a Western European feel. Many of the classic buildings were built when the city was under Austrian rule.
The train travel was good. The first train, a one-car local train, stopped about every 10 minutes along the way, sometimes in a village, sometimes just at a crossing, and much of the journey was in the dark. Feels strange to have someone get off the train in the dark nowhere near a town, but that is what many people did. They had come into town to shop and where taking the train home. The local train went as far as Knin, a larger town. After a 45 minute wait, I got on the train from Split to Zagreb. It had a baggage area where you can hang bikes by the front wheel just like some trains in France. Then I found my bed and unfortunately woke up the two others in the compartment. Luckily, I had the bottom bunk. The train was well organized and the sleeping car had its own attendant.
Slept on the way to Zagreb as the train rocked and rolled. It felt cozy.
Off at 10:00 for Budapest.
Road sign on the way to Zadar. They look like nasty animals. Didn’t meet any.
One-car train to Knin