Tuesday, 4 June to Sunday, 9 June 2019
After breakfast, we took a cab to the bus station for the 4 and a half hour trip to Zagreb. All went well until the Croatian border where all our passports were collected and we sat in the hot bus for over 30 minutes wondering if we would ever see our passports again. Croatia is part of the EU but is the only country so far that has wanted to see our passports. We eventually got to our hotel, a beautiful old building that was the first hotel in Zagreb. Only 1 night here but we enjoyed some of the sights.
The cathedral is being renovated stone by stone, after years of neglect by the Nazis and Communists and resultant erosion as shown above.
On Wednesday morning we picked up a hire car and drove to Plitvice Lakes. On the way we visited the small water mill village of Rastoke. Once 22 mills were used for grinding grain while linen and carpets were washed in big baskets under the falls.
Plitvice National Park is UNESCO listed and after a day exploring the park I understand why. Entry to the park includes bus and boat rides so you can see all the sights in less than a day.
On Friday, we drove to Pula on the Istria peninsular. On the way we passed a number of memorials to the Homeland War (Croatian War of Independence) waged from 1991 to1995. There are still a lot of damaged and burnt out properties in the areas we drove through.
Warren was keen to see the Roman Arena in Pula and was not disappointed. It is the sixth largest left in the world at 135m long by 105m wide. The Colosseum for comparison is 189m long by 156m wide. This Arena however has had better conservation and has much smaller crowds visiting.
Also in the town are one of the Roman gates, a triumphal arch and a temple. The Roman theatre was off limits as they are doing renovations on the museum.
There was also a Venetian fort built on the hill. 
There was certainly lots to to see in this small town!