It's Official- Less than 2 Months!

Our wedding is coming up in a couple of very short, quick months so we're getting into serious planning mode! There are still a bunch of things that need to be done but right now all I'm dreaming about is the seaside. Anyway before I get to the seaside, I wanted to mention a couple of things.

Accommodations:

If you're coming to Zagreb (for our wedding or for any other occasion!) rather than rent a hotel, we recommend you rent an apartment instead. Especially if you're traveling with more people, it's much more affordable (not to mention comfortable!) to stay in a flat in the city. It's also much more common to rent apartments (or houses) rather than hotels all over Croatia. Hostels are another good option (especially if it's just for one or two people).

The best website I know for finding quality apartments to rent all over Europe is AirBnB. I'm not getting paid or anything to write about the website, I just wanted to let you know that Tomislav and I have had GREAT experiences with this site and renting apartments in Western Europe and there are so many options for not only Zagreb, but also Dubrovnik and most other European cities! For example, this place is a luxury apartment 10 minutes from the center of Zagreb, accomodates six people (very comfortably!) is $135 per night in June (the week of our wedding). $22.50 a night per person! Great deal indeed :)

Getting Around the City:

Tram Map of Zagreb 

(the Main Square, Trg bana Josipa Jelačića, is circled)

The tram and bus system in Zagreb is easy to use and readily available. It can take you all over the city so you can see all the best sites. You can buy tickets for the tram at any kiosk but to be honest, I am a "Schwarzfahrer" most of the time. I don't ride the tram as much as I used to (since we have a car). The trams aren't controlled that often so I usually keep a tram ticket in my wallet and if I see a controller coming, I quickly stamp it at the front of the tram, or just get off at the next stop. I'm being totally honest here but honestly, I've seen controllers so rarely that this is the way I choose to ride!
There are also many new taxi companies, like Cammeo, which make it much more affordable to travel around the city (like if you'd rather take a cab than a bus lugging suitcases from the airport or so on).

Communication:

Using your American cell phone plan in Croatia is über expensive. I wouldn't recommend for anyone to sign up for an international calling plan unless you're super rich and don't care but if you're on a budget like me, the best thing you could do is get an unlocked phone. If you're phone is unlocked, you can put a sim card in it from any provider and boom - it works! The old school, bar phone nokias are excellent for this. If you have an old one lying around, it's probably unlocked and for about $5 (25 kuna) you can get a sim card and start up package for calls and text messages.It's affordable and so much easier to communicate this way with friends who live or are staying in another part of the city. Check and see if your phone is already unlocked! It may be!

The Seaside and Traveling Around:

After our wedding, we are planning on going down the coast and I'm sure many of our guests as well as anyone coming to Zagreb will plan on doing. Absolutely anywhere you go on the coast is bound to be gorgeous. Keep in mind, most places in Croatia don't have sandy beaches, instead there are small pebbles or big boulders to lay on. I hope I never take the views for granted, swimming in the sea and looking at huge mountains is so unique and beautiful, I can't wait for all of my family and friends to see it! Also, any Game of Thrones fans should make their way to Dubrovnik since the second season was filmed there and you can see how amazing it looks in real life. There are tons of buses in the summer that go from Autobusni Kolodvor (the main bus station) in Zagreb to all different cities on the coast. You can get there pretty cheap, although the bus takes longer than it would with a car since it makes some stops. Renting a car is another option. For more info about things to do and see while you're in Croatia, we invite you to check out our wedding website which can be found here!

 Blue Cave on the island Vis

Yes, Deer!

 

One of the best things about being in Zagreb is that it's so close to many other countries so you can make a weekend trip, or even a day trip very easily! We went with our friends, on Sunday, to two towns in Slovenia: Olimje and Celje. At first, I was a bit apprehensive about how fun and exciting this trip would really be. Tomislav and Lovro had visited Olimje last year and talked about feeding deer and to be quite honest, I wasn't impressed. I mean, I grew up in the Poconos, PA...basically the deer capital of the world. I had no idea how awesome it would actually be! So first we visited this "Witch's Hut" which is an interactive playhouse made completely of recycled materials.

 An optimistic friend greeting us at the Witch's Hut

It's Pippi Longstocking! My favorite girl from Villa Villekulla (aka Villa Kunterbunt auf Deutsch!)

 T-Slav playing "the bells" for us!

This isn't the actual witch, it's Maja :D

In the town of Olimje, it's really neat because this seemingly tiny village has a lot of beautiful and interesting things to see, all within 2 minutes of each other!

There is a beautiful church and monastery.

 

This is inside the church, and Maja

 Big beautiful goldfish were swimming outside the monastery (and Nemo type fish too!), plus the reflection of the monastery looks awesome in the water

 Me explaining stuff about the monastery, in Croatian. Oh yeah, very accurate indeed. Not sure if we were supposed to actually be in that part of the monastery, oh well! Was very cool!

 Such a beautiful view of the town at our next stop of the trip, home of the deer!

 They were so sweet! We got corn to feed the deer and although some of the Bambi baby types were scared, the big guys were hungry and happy to eat right out of our hands. So sweet!

 Maja feeding the deer

 Here's Lovro 

 Here is Jan

 Here is T-Slav feeding the cutie deer

 As the day went on, it got rather chilly so feeding the deer was a great way to warm up my hands too ;)

Beautiful animals!

 Had to take a gluehwein/kuhano vino/hot mulled wine break :)

 One of my favorite things about winter in Europe is that people continue to use outdoor seating at cafes, bars, and restaurants. The cafes often provide those standing heaters (or better yet, feet heaters!), and what's even cozier, are the soft warm blankets!

Next up, we made our way to Celje, which is actually the 3rd largest city in Slovenia. Unfortunately, on Sunday afternoon, we didn't quite get the impression that this was a large city because by 5pm it was very dark and there were so few people out.

 There were a few lit up decorations though :)

 Maja rode home with this nice Celje man on his bicycle :)