Budget Traveller writes about the slow, but wonderful experience of travelling from Split to Zagreb by train
If you’re a Croat and you’ve travelled abroad, or if you’re a foreigner and you’re in Croatia, you must’ve noticed how rarely trains are used to travel to distant locations in this country. Trains are slow, always late, and sometimes very old. I thought that was the way the world worked until I travelled abroad for the first time: glorious train stations and trains that are both faster and quicker than buses. I couldn’t believe my eyes – why isn’t it the same in Croatia?
I love travelling by train; I started loving it even more after eight years of travelling 8+ hours by bus every month to go back home and I remember there was a point in my life when I frantically started looking for trains to get me back home even if it meant more hours because I was fed up with buses – trains are more comfortable, you can walk, there’s a bathroom, there are separate compartments, the whole nine yards. BUT, it turns out; it would take me 13+ hours to cross my 500 km to get back home, so I gave up.
Apparently, our trains are ok, but our tracks are not, so even though you’ll see gorgeous new trains, there’s nothing much they can do when their speed limit is 60 km/h. This is a given in Croatia, you always take the bus, but there are adventurous people who want to try the train and embark on a 6.5-hour journey to get from Split to Zagreb. One of them is a Budget Traveller author, who tells the story about the scenic route that takes you from the seaside, up to meadows, through funny-sounding names of stations, lush green fields, to the glorious Glavni Kolodvor, a former Orient Express stop.
http
Budget Traveller
Budget Traveller is a popular website with tips on travelling in style on a budget. The blog won the 2016 National Geographic Traveller Blogger of the Year Award and was featured in Lonely Planet, CNN, the NY Times and the Guardian. He writes about various topics, including luxury hostels, and wants to encourage people to think differently about budget travel.
It’s great to see a fresh new approach to things we take for granted and read about how the author truly enjoyed the scenery changing so much, so stop by budgettraveller.org and read a wonderful piece on the slow, but lovely, train from Split to Zagreb and the types of people and places you can expect to meet along the way.
