Day 15 - Three Countries in One Day!

Today we had to get up early! At around 5.00am we woke up so that we could pack our bags and tidy up the house.

Just after 6.00am our Uber driver arrived and we hopped in the car and drove to Glavni Kolodvor, the Zagreb train station which used to be a stop when on the Orient Express. We were off to Austria. Auke spent our last few Kunas on some pastries, while Ali tried to find out which platform our train was going to come to.

Once again we got very confused - none of the trains at all matched the one we were meant to be catching, but eventually we found that we should be leaving from platform 1.

Ali felt very much like she was in a game of Ticket to Ride - catching the train from Zagreb!

Our train eventually arrived and we boarded it - we found our own little cabin-like seating where you sit in a little room and can close the door. We stacked our luggage above us and settled in for the long journey to Austria. It was going to take 7 hours.

About an hour into our train ride, the train stopped at a station and something caught Ali’s eye - a sign saying Republic of Slovenia! We were so excited - we had no idea we were going to get to travel through Slovenia!! All the police officers piled onto the train to check our passports and stamp them. A few minutes later we heard them yelling at a lady ‘VISA!!! YOU NEED VISA!!” Her and her husband were promptly removed from the train and we were relieved that we didn’t need a Visa!

Slovenia is absolutely beautiful. They have lakes that are so smooth it looks like glass, so it perfectly reflects all the trees. We were very excited to be able to spend four hours through the whole of Slovenia. The only part that didn’t look pretty was their capital city Ljubljana.

At Ljubljana, a couple hopped onto the train and opened up our little cabin and said we were in their seats (we had been told to take a seat anywhere, and we had our ticket checked twice and they didn’t say anything). We quickly moved across and gave them their seats but for the next 20 mins the guy kept swearing and saying we were so rude. You can imagine this was awkward considering it’s a small little room with just us and them and a closed door. The photo was taken before they joined us.

This made the rest of the train ride a little awkward as we had to keep telling the kids not to make a sound in case we irritated them more. We had to do this for four more hours!

Once through Slovenia, we stated travelling through Austria. It was beautiful, they still had snow on their mountains! It was also cool seeing a castle on the top of a mountain.

Eventually we arrived in Salzburg. We were hoping to beat the rain which was meant to start at 2.00pm, but our train was running a bit late and we ended up arriving as it started pouring. We decided we better get a taxi rather than walk for 30 minutes in the rain with luggage. Finding a taxi for five passengers plus a driver is so hard! They have barely any taxis with 6 or more seats. In Croatia they let us share a seatbelt and fit us in, but in Austria they said no way! Finally we found a taxi and made our way to where we were staying.

Unfortunately, our Air BnB host was not there to meet us. He had messaged us where the key was but at that stage we didn’t have the wifi connected. We ended up getting quite soaked while we were waiting but eventually Auke found the key and we managed to get inside. It was very sticky and hot and this place had no air con! Thankfully a thunderstorm started not long after which cleared the stickiness from the air.

When there was a break in the rain, we quickly left the house and crossed the road to a restaurant which was about two minutes away. This was recommended by our Air BnB host.

It was SO delicious! Auke ordered Roast Pork with Austrian dumplings, Ali ordered a rare steak, and the girls ordered Fish and Chips. We don’t know how anyone could be cranky in Austria - this is a country where they put bacon in your veges! If things didn’t get any better than that, they have hot chocolate with rum in it! They also have other delicious sounding things like a cherry chocolate liqueur. We didn’t get to try the liqueur but we tried the hot chocolate. They were also very friendly to kids here and brought out a toy box with toys, despite it looking like a pretty classy restaurant! For dessert, three of us got apple strudel and one of us got the chocolate mousse!

After this, the rain held off so we managed to walk and do some groceries. The girls were so excited to find Unicorn Fruit Loops breakfast cereal for while we stayed here!

We walked home, had showers and went to bed - three countries in one day was exhausting!