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Day 12: Budapest to Zagreb

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Well today has been the earliest start since we left Scotland! I think it's safe to say that 4:30am isn't our most favourite time of day to rise and shine. Despite that we made it to our train no problem, as we waited on our platform we could see nobody else but fellow tired interrailers. Who else is crazy enough to get on a train at this time? We got on board and bagged a whole cabin to ourselves for the majority of the journey. The sun was just starting to rise as our train set off, making for some splendid views of the Hungarian countryside covered in morning mist. It was enough to make us think that the early start was worth it. We fought our eyelids for as long as we could trying not to miss any of it, but we soon gave in and dosed off for a fair bit of the 7 hour journey. Somewhere along the way we woke up shivering (not often we've been cold on this trip) turned out that the air con was just too good. Extra layers ensued and a warm jacked that I was beginning to regret packing finally got some use. 


So we made it to Zagreb at approximately 1pm and we patted ourselves on the back for choosing an early train for once. It's so much nicer to arrive in the daytime when things are still open. Horray! However what we didn't bank on was our hostel being shut for the afternoon... Thank goodness for the bar next door or else there would have been absolutely nothing to do for the next hour and a half. We were located a bit out of town in a business park, we felt it was a bit of a strange location for a hostel but oh well. When we finally got checked in the hostel was very nice inside. Once we were settled we took our time getting refreshed, a shower was top priority - we still whiffed a bit from the Turkish baths... Probably why we managed to keep a cabin to ourselves most of the way... Anyhow, we then spent a fair bit of time planning our accommodation for Italy, and trying to find an affordable part of Italy to stay in... Turns out that Venice is super busy due to a film festival right now... Damn! We managed to find a nice compromise though, were still going to Venice but just for a day trip, instead we'll be in Florence which we're super excited for! So stay tuned for that! 😁
All of this planning worked up a mean appetite so we walked into the centre find some food! It took us a while to find somewhere (our tummys were really rumbling by this point) started to worry that the people of Zagreb don't eat out, as all we could see were bars, pubs and no restaurants (except McDonald's). We eventually found this healthy kind of fast food burger place (not McDonald's I swear) which satisfied our hunger quite nicely. We then got to walk around and get our bearings of the city in a more relaxed way, but by this point tiredness caught up with us and we had to call it an early night. Saving the adventure for tomorrow!

Claire

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