Tourist trail goes cold but big hitters still to come

Quite strangely since my last update I have barely met any other travelers. In little Samobor, a 20 minute bus ride from Zagreb I can understand but the Croatian capital itself? Whilst it has limited the evening activities for a bit (probably needed as it was getting out of hand) it has been a pretty cool experience being the only tourist in town, especially yesterday in Samobor where I pretty much had the hiking trails and a half a castle to myself! As usual I will try to put the events in order. My second day in Rijeka was fairly sedated after the drinking the night before, I did not make it to the castle and it ended up being a day of fairly mindless wandering. On the Saturday I had an early start as I had elected to get the train to Zagreb, I pretty much had the entire carriage to myself and watched the train go past one empty station after another, I began to wonder where I was and if we were even going to Zagreb at all, the eerie mist did not help the situation much either. When we got to the capital I liked it immediately, its manageable on foot and the cafes and bars on the streets everywhere sum up its laid back culture. When I checked into my hostel the girl said the best thing to do in Zagreb is sit in one of the parks and look at all the beautiful women we have! sounded like a good idea but I did have women of my own to meet up with, the German girls I'd met in Rijeka, Nina and Nici. Sadly they had an early start so there was no bar crawl this time but we did go to a cracking little market with a nice view of the city, then they went to Budapest and I headed back to my hostel to be greeted by my room mate, yes you guessed it, an Aussie. I should have declined his invitation to go and drink local brandy's at the hostel bar but I didn't. Luckily I dozed off in the room shortly before I was due to meet him and woke up halfway through the night wondering what had happened, I was glad for it when he staggered in at 9am the next morning looking like death! The next day feeling fresh I did all the sights I could in one day in Zagreb, I climbed the tower which offered another great view, went to the main market and botanical gardens in the morning. In the afternoon I went to the beautiful Maksimir Park and had a fairly long walk, then stumbled across a random zoo in the middle of it which I thought I should visit too. A lot of this is made possible by Zagreb's excellent tram system which takes you to pretty much anywhere in the city. The next day, yesterday, I took a day off from Zagreb and went to nearby Samobor where I'd heard there was great hiking, it was a hot day, the first we've had in a few days. I have no idea where I heard about the place as its not in my guidebook! but no matter, the center was small and attractive with lots of outdoor cafes like Zagreb has. I was convinced at the time I was the only person staying in my newly opened, bright looking hostel at the time. Anyway I dumped my stuff and hit the trails, it was fairly steep but before too long I came across some remains of a castle, I wandered around them for a bit and found part of it where I could sit and view the whole city. I was completely alone, in 23 degree heat with a view of a beautiful, random little town in the middle of Croatia, not another tourist or person in sight. This was the sort of experience I had come traveling for, it was a special moment. After this I hiked through the nearby woods, past abandoned churches and got back to the peaceful little town. Then I had a beer at one of the outdoor bars and watched the sunset, it had been a pretty great day. Back at the hostel I did meet 3 Aussie girls but all the bars were closing by then so there was not a lot we could do. I came back to Zagreb this morning and have just been using this day to catch up with all the boring bits and pieces. Tomorrow I have Zadar which is mainly an excuse to take an excursion to the Plitvice Lakes national park which is supposed to be fairly unmissable and it had better be for me to actually go ahead with an organised tour as I do my best to avoid them at all costs normally. In this case the buses between Zagreb, the lakes and Zadar are just too complicated to figure out. After that I have Split, Trogir and Dubrovnik so there are some big hitters to come and hopefully more opportunities to meet people. In terms of Croatia itself, I love it so far! its a beautiful country and the poeple are very friendly. I much prefer the hostels to the ones in Italy, the staff just seem far more genuine and happier to help you which is what everyone wants arriving in a place they do not know. The food here is also great, the bread is better than the stuff I had in Italy and its filling and cheap. I had best wrap this up as my fingers are going numb from typing. Hello to one and all. Chris