Zagreb in a Day: Art, Cafés, and Truffle Delights 🇭🇷

We started our day with a hearty breakfast at our Farm Stay in Jeruzelem Slovenia. The highlights were some delicious scrambled eggs, freshly baked bread and a cottage cheese (more like ricotta) mixed with green onions and drizzled with pumpkin seed oil. (Sorry no picture, but it tasted much better than it looked anyway!)

Over breakfast, we decided to head south to Zagreb. We’d heard great things about Croatia’s capital, plus it’s a short drive to our next and final stop of the trip—Ljubljana, Slovenia. We fly home in a couple of days.

We booked bright, cheerful apartment in lower downtown Zagreb, just a 5 minute walk from the historic old town. AND it has a washer, so it’s a laundry day!

While in the city, we toured two light-hearted museums. The first was a museum of Näive Art, featuring works by self-taught artists. The second was the Museum of Broken Relationships. Both were thoroughly entertaining and a perfect way to spend a couple of hours. There’s a ton of museums here, but we’re feeling a bit “touristed out” today.

By midafternoon, we were ready to relax at one of the quaint street cafés in old town Zagreb—museum hopping really builds up an appetite!

Every region seems to have its signature dish, and Google led us to try Zagreb’s “štrukli,” a rolled pasta filled with ricotta-like cheese. We ordered the savory version, baked with truffles. It was divine - and a great afternoon snack!

Tonight we enjoyed more local cuisine at a Croatian restaurant called Lanterna na Dolcu.

The restaurant is in a 300 year old manor on one of the oldest streets in the city. We dined in the charm of a vaulted brick basement.

I had a dish of handmade rolled noodles (called pljukanci) with truffles and sirloin, and Bob had a traditional dish called the Zagreb Steak, which is a breaded pork filet that’s rolled with ham and cheese. For dessert, we had another štrukli, but this one was sweet, topped with blueberries and honey. Another great meal!

As we were preparing to leave the restaurant, the friendly owner took some time to explain some old town history. The historic streets in Zagreb are lined with old gas lamps (that are still gas lit) and it gives a very nostalgic fell to the place. There are 295 of these lamps still in operation and two men are responsible for seeing that each lamp is turned on and off every night.

We’re so happy that we made the choice to visit Zagreb! It’s a lively city with plenty to do and lots of great food. It would be a great place to stay longer and load up on Croatian culture and history, but we head west tomorrow, back into Slovenia to explore their capitol for a day before we head home on Thursday.

Good night from Zagreb!

Jen & Bob