A drive in the country

The orangemobile, the 1974 Renault that helped me miss the plane and get an extra week in Croatia last year... made it without problems this year on a big loop around northwestern Croatia.  We took the back roads through the country to avoid the outrageous tolls charged on the Croatian highways ...ok, and the orangemobile really can't get up to highway speeds either : )

We visited our friends Vedrana and Bruno and attended their baby's first birthdayparty. I'd last seen her only at only 1 month old last year, so there was quite a difference. She quickly discarded the presents and played with the boxes and wrapping paper. I always like visiting them, they're nice folks and there's always a parade of delicious foods to try... This time it was Bosnian pita - long, rolls of pastry filled with cheese, potatoes and other good things, coiled in a pan and baked.

I really like Varazdin. It's a little baroque town near the Drava River, up by the borders with Slovenia and Hungary, anchored by a beautifully restored Habsburg era castle. I visited last year, but again this year only got part of a day here. Again, the air was filled with ringing bells throughout the day, from the churches scattered around the city. The cobbled streets are clean and wide and there's usually something going on in the main square. This time there was a band singing Beatles cover songs... but they didn't speak English, so it was more just the sounds of the English words... sounded pretty close though if you didn't listen carefully... "Hey Joooooo, on maki baaaaaaah, tako saaasoooo an maki ve-daaaaa" They sounded good though. We retreated at the end of the day to Z's grandparent's old house for the night.

In the morning we headed down rural back roads towards Trakoscan Castle.