Samobor & Food Wine Tour

We picked up this trick while traveling with tour groups.  It is best to save time and day light hours, when you are traveling in winter, by starting your tour right after getting out of the airport.  Since we are traveling on our own, we would have to pay a airport transfer fee to get to the hotel, and time will be wasted checking in.

Friday 27/01/17 So, we paid a surcharge of EUR35 (260 Kn) to have Mladen picked us up from the airport to start our Samobor & Food Wine Tour. That is a 33km ride which would take us 28 minutes to reach according to croatia-taxi.



This is what Mladen drives, in order to be able to pick up four passengers with luggage for 13 days trip.


Opel VIVARO mini-van

When Mladen asked if we are afraid of heights, this was where he had in mind to take us to, the Pyramid at Anindol.  It is 14 meters high.



It is a walking distance away from the main road.





See the red circle on the tree.  Markings on made on them to show the direction to tourist destination.



Yes!  We all made it to the top for a breathtaking view of Samobor, Samobor hills, Medvednica and Zagreb.



I checked the weather forecast while I was still in Malaysia.  In January, the weather is expected to be from 23 to 32°F (-5 to 0°C) and sunny.



That is so accurate as you can see us squinting away with the sun shinning brightly into our eyes.



On a good day, we should be able to see Slovenia in the distance as it's border is only 25 kilometers away from Zagreb.





We are very proud that we made it to the top...



...and managed to climb back down safely.  Have all Croatians been there?

After this, we traveled down to the Grgos Cave in Otrusevec where we had our lunch.

Is this the best time to go?

Before you fly off to any destination for your holiday, find out what the weather will be like over there. Then you will be able to pack proper shoes and clothing for the trip and decide if an umbrella will also be required.

So, is January and February 2017 the best time to be traveling in the Balkans?  Since it will still be winter, it is best to check out the temperature and daylight hours available for you to enjoy the view.



This is part of the chart I created for our trip and I added the daylight hours available which is very important when you travel in winter.  It can be the determining factor as to whether you want to stay out or head back to the hotel.

In Malaysia, by 1900hrs we can still see daylight.  Imagine how anxious you will be if you have lost track of time and you have to be at the airport by 1900hrs to catch a flight.  In Zagreb after 1656hrs it was already dark and we did wonder if our tour guide, Mladen, was late in sending us to the airport from our Plitvice Lakes Tour.

I managed to find what the weather and daylight hours will be like from Time and Date.  Just click on the name of the country you are going to, then click on the states and indicate the month and year you are checking.

You can even view the weather condition for previous months of places you have been to.

Locating a guide in Zagreb

As the local travel agency was not able to provide land tour in Zagreb, I did a search and managed to find the Tourist Information Centers there.

Turistički informativni centar / Tourist Information Centre
Turistička zajednica grada Zagreba / Zagreb Tourist Board
Trg bana Josipa Jelačića 11, 10000 Zagreb
tel: + 385 1 4814 051; 4814 052; 4814 054
fax: + 385 1 4814 056
Email : info@infozagreb.hr
Web : www.infozagreb.hr
Web : www.meetinzagreb.hr
Web : www.lovezagreb.hr

I was informed by them that I can do a self-guided tour of the city by picking up a free copy of the Step by Step brochure at any of their Tourist Information Centers.

I decided to go for their second option;  locate a guide to take us around from their website.  And that was how I found Mladen Car.

Mladen emailed me a photo of himself.  So, we did not miss him when he came to pick us up from the airport for our Samobor Town Tour.



Mladen Car
Funky Zagreb Tours
info@funky-zagreb.com
www.funky-zagreb.com
Mobile / Viber / WhatsApp
+385 91 160 22 22

Zagreb, the capital of Croatia

This is where we headed to from London Heathrow Airport.  Other than Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, we will also be touring Dubrovnik during 7th day of the trip.


Map of Croatia found on The University of Texas at Austin website.

Arrival at Pleso Airport in Zagreb at 1145hrs (0645hrs in Malaysia).



The travel agency booked a Superior One-bedroom Apartment (4 Adults) for us at the Meridien Luxury Apartments in Zagreb.



It comes with free wifi (a must when you are traveling), a full kitchen and 2 separate rooms.

One with 1 extra-large double bed.





The other with 2 single beds.



There is a separate toilet on the left hand side of the bathroom.



Hotels in Zagreb have to collect from their guests, a city tax of EUR 1 for each night stay per person. So, we paid 24,50 Kn (RM15.55) for it.

Flying to the Balkans

There are a number of airlines flying to the Balkans.  If we decide to take the Turkish Airlines flight, it will stop over at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport on its way to our first destination in Skopje.

In June last year, that airport was closed after three suicide bombers killed at least 41 people and injured over 200.  As it has been reported that there is a high threat from terrorism we decided to take the British Airways flight which stops at Heathrow airport for a connecting flight to Zagreb as they do not have a direct flight to Skopje.


This was our flight schedule planned by the travel agency.  It would have been a total of 17 hours 35 minutes to get to Skopje with almost 4 hours waiting time for connecting flights.

ITINERARY

DATE

DAY

DEP

ARR

FLIGHT

==============================

=====

===

====

======

======

KLIA - LONDON HEATHROW

27JAN

FRI

0005

0550

BA34

LONDON HEATHROW - ZAGREB PLESO

27JAN

FRI

0825

1145

BA848

ZAGREB PLESO - SKOPJE

27JAN

FRI

1410

1545

OU368

SOFIA INTL - LONDON HEATHROW

06FEB

MON

1410

1545

BA891

LONDON HEATHROW - KLIA

06FEB

MON

1855

1520+1

BA33

To shorten our flight and waiting time we decided to make a stop over at Zagreb for one night to tour the capital on our own and take the Croatia Airlines OU366 the following day.

ITINERARY

DATE

DAY

DEP

ARR

FLIGHT

==============================

=====

===

====

======

======

KLIA - LONDON HEATHROW

27JAN

FRI

0005

0550

BA34

LONDON HEATHROW - ZAGREB PLESO

27JAN

FRI

0825

1145

BA848

ZAGREB PLESO - SKOPJE

28JAN

SAT

2115

2245

OU366

SOFIA INTL - LONDON HEATHROW

08FEB

WED

1410

1545

BA891

LONDON HEATHROW- KLIA

08FEB

WED

1855

1520+1

BA33

That decision extended our holiday to 13 days in the Balkans.



Checking in our luggage at KLIA on 27 January 2017.

Waiting for our flight to be called for departure.

Have you been to the Balkans?

The Balkan region and Peninsula comprise of countries in the southeast region of Europe.  They are Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, and the European part of Turkey.

I came to know about the Balkans through EU Holidays Pte Ltd.  My family joined them for their "11 days Europe Highlight" group tour at a very good price which includes 2 nights free stay in Dubai, as it was the transit point flying on Emirates to Europe and back.  Airport tax was also waived.

Their "11D 8N Adverture to the Balkans" would have cost us close to S$3,000 per person and this does not include transport to Singapore to join the group.  I discovered that they have agents in Malaysia promoting the same package at RM10,000.00 plus per person.

I did a search and found  a 11 Days package to the Balkans which includes 10 nights stay with breakfast offered by Corporate Information Travel.  Their itinerary indicated a discount of 20% if payment is received before 31 January 2017 for group travel, of up to 10 to 12 pax, in 2017. The agent offered us a 10% if we pay in 2016 to travel in 2017.  My family of 4 decided to go for it.

The package tour covers 7 countries in the Balkans and these are the places we visited:

Skopje (capital) and Ohrib in Macedonia

Triana (capital) in Albania 

Budva and Kotor in Montenegro

Dubrovnik in Croatia

Sarajevo (capital) in Bosnia/Herzegovina

Novi Sad and Belgrade (capital) in Serbia

Sofia (capital) in Bulgaria

I found this map of Central Europe posted on the website of the University of Texas Libraries, Austin.  

I have amended it because Serbia and Montenegro were known as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia until 2003. They are now  independent states.  A better map with boundary of Montenegro can be seen at the following link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkans#/media/File:Balkan_peninsula_line.jpg

The other countries that made up former Yugoslavian republics were Bosnia and Herzegovnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia, and Kosovo.