Crossings, Castles and Dungeons

Today we left Hotel California (Lenti, Hungary) to head for Varazdin, Croatia. We wind from Hungary with its small ghost towns and lovely people, through Slovenia and in to Croatia. Finally getting our passports stamped as we go.

Varazdin is a lovely city and well worth extra time. We visited their local castle for a bit of tourism and had 2 scoops of ice cream while we drifted down the streets. The exchange rate (1 usd: .16 Kroner) makes you want to order 5 scoops! Yum!

We found our hiking cohort had come in to town. After meeting in the lobby , we sauntered to Palantin Restoran & Caffe and descended to a table for 11 in their lower level. This chic restaurant was a joy for they eyes and mouth but a bit slow in service for hungry hikers. To start we enjoyed a little Amuse Boucher.

and we enjoyed entrees of risotto, or polenta, carpaccio, or veal. Topped with lovely red and white local Croatian wines.

This party may be our group’s last until Trieste as we are starting to pursue side trips or other agendas. Tomorrow James and I will deviate from the hike and only intersect it a bit until the end. The foot problems have put us on another path instead. So tomorrow we go to Zagreb for the weekend where some of our group will join us for a few days. After that, we’ll figure it out as we go.