Laundry & the Markets

Today was different. Nowhere to rush to; no castles or churches to visit; no mountains to climb!

So, after breakfast the hunt was on for a laundromat - the washing needed to be done. We sought advice from the hotel receptionist who suggested we either catch a bus out to a large shopping centre on the outskirts of the city, some 15 minutes away, or we walk to a nearby backpacker hostel where washing facilities could be found. We decided on the shopping centre and duly found the bus depot. Liz purchased enough tickets to cater for the 7 of us on this adventure and we headed off bravely into the unknown (no tour guide with us this time!). Eventually, we arrived at the large shopping centre and sought directions to the laundromat. After deciding that the multi story carpark was not likely to yield any results, we found the entrance to City Park, one of the many shopping malls in this huge complex. We entered with trepidation - there seemed to be too many clothing and shoe shops - the ladies were drooling! Jill went into a pet shop and found hairless guinea pigs! Finally, we found our target but, to our dismay, the “laundromat” turned out to be a dry cleaning shop - I guess there was a translation malfunction. As we had come this far, we spent about 1 hour wandering around the huge shopping centre with each of the ladies purchasing a garment or two. I bought a ‘man bag’ - very becoming!.

We still needed a laundromat, so, not to be beaten, we headed back to the bus stop, keen to return and try the hostel facilities. The bus driver almost didn’t let us on the bus! The tickets that Liz had bought were not quite enough to get us back to the city. The driver must have taken pity on we poor lost Aussies so he allowed us to board and we headed sheepishly back from whence we had come earlier.

When we arrived back at the depot, three of the party, whose washing had already been done, decided to leave us and return to the city centre. The 4 remaining stalwarts headed for the youth hostel and after several minutes of walking, we had to ask directions. Jill sought advice from a parking cop who after looking at her as if to say, “Aren’t you too old for a Youth hostel?” directed us straight to the place and soon, after handing over a passport to secure keys to the laundry, we headed upstairs and loaded up the machine.

At that point, Jill decided that her glasses needed some minor repair work- one arm of her glasses was wobbly. Have you ever tried to replace the tiny, tiny, really tiny, screw that holds the arm to the lens frame while using a Swiss Army knife as the only available tool? Yes, you guessed it - I dropped the damn thing on the floor and the 4 of us went on a tiny screw finding mission. Eventually we found the beast and I tried my darndest to screw it in. Under such difficult conditions the screw was dropped again and, again was found after quite a long search. Sadly I had to admit defeat - Jill was left with a pair of one arm glasses! We have looked this afternoon for an optometrist without success. Jill had made a wise move by bringing a second pair of glasses with her.

We were very impressed with the youth hostel. We asked to view rooms - quite spacious and very reasonably priced. The cafe on the ground floor had delicious looking and smelling food at very cheap prices- not that we needed MORE food! The hostel was however in an area that we decided we would not want to walk around there alone at night - maybe because the building had once been a prison!

After making our way back to the hotel to deposit the clean washing we went for a stroll down to the markets. These are located just below the castle. The fruit and vegetables stalls were mouth watering. We sampled quite a bit of the produce and purchased some delicious cherries. Both us of managed to make a purchase or two - I made the most this time - a pair of sandals, a shirt and a hat! From there we went to a pastry shop and purchased bureks - a Slovenian cheese pastry and found a nearby outdoor bar (again with the palace just behind us) where we purchased a glass of Refosk (red wine) each to accompany our bureks. The sparrows were just about dive bombing us to get flakes of pastry! The sun was shining - a most pleasant 1/2 hour.

After once again arriving back at the hotel we relaxed. Jill played Rummikub with Marie and Gert whilst I again worked on Jill’s glasses - I like a challenge. Again the challenge proved too much without the right tools.

The evening ended with a stroll down to the Republic Square to purchase a light meal and the obligatory drink.

With an early start in the morning, we needed to retire reasonably early - an 8:15am train to Zagreb awaits us in the morning!