It just gets better and better... the rolling hills and hidden valleys of Zagorje County take our breath away. It is hard to get used to, all this natural splendour. We strolled through Varaždin, sampled a few of the traditional dishes , wandered through the gardens surrounding the baroque castle and meandered through the country lanes to Krapine Toplice , another thermal springs area. It was a bit dicey finding our way here at times but Google Maps came to t...

Geoff did a great job driving from Zagreb yesterday, it's always hair raising driving out of a city you are unfamiliar with. It turned out that Varaždin was booked out due to a FOOD MARKET from the surrounding districts so we managed to secure a room in a house about 30kms north. What a bonus that was! We made it to Donji Kraljevec without incident, no mean feat, I tell you, and our hosts , Ana and Ivan gave us a warm welcome . We lost no time in settling oursel...

Thanks to everyone who has been concerned about our safety in the floods, the damage has been catastrophic but this part of Croatia has not been affected. The day before we arrived, Zagreb had experienced one of the worst storms on record with torrential rain, and gale force winds. There were trees down, branches strewn in the street and roads closed. We caught the tail end of it which made for a bumpy landing. The weather has been balmy since Monday with temper...

Dolac market is a 20 minute walk away, downhill, from our apartment, not far from the main square. Growers sell produce from all over Croatia and the choice seems endless. The fruit and veg stalls are outside and underneath is this vast array of meat, pickles , bread, pastries and dairy products. Strawberries are sold by the kilo here, at $2 a kilo- we are on our second kilo! Literally, it is a feast for the senses, stallholders toting their wares, buskers an...

We survived the direct flight here in quite good shape, arriving ten minutes early at Zagreb airport, thanks to the efficiency of Qatar airlines. I have to say that Qatar airport was an experience-HUGE- no other airlines on the ground, just Qatar planes as far as the eye could see and thousands of people in transit at six am in the sweltering heat. It was 13 degrees and raining when we arrived, but who cares? We caught the bus into the city and our first impress...