It’s been over a year since I left Croatia.  While I only lived here for 4 months, my love for the country grew deep. Now I’m getting to experience it again with my daughter and relive the discoveries through her eyes.

Two weeks ago we arrived to the town of Bjelovar.  This is where I lived and worked last year.  We will be making it our “home base” as we travel around.  I was lucky enough to arrange the stay at my apartment from last year. That really did make it feel like returning home. Getting to visit and reconnect with my friends and some of the students has been a real treat.  I still haven’t run into the old man in my building but I’m really looking forward to seeing  the look on his face when he sees me. 

Not much has changed in the town.  Some of the businesses I remember walking past on the streets are gone and new ones have popped up.  The city’s landmark pavilion in my favorite park is being renovated.  And now there is free WiFi when you sit in that park!  Now it’s my favorite favorite park.

There are still practically more coffee bars than people and still very few restaurants. The law says if you want to serve food, your establishment must be non-smoking.  Bar owners clearly believe they will do more business catering to the smokers than the diners.  So while you can enjoy an espresso or beer just about anywhere in town during all of the waking hours, you should probably eat before you leave home.  An added note about WiFi…All of these establishments offer free WiFi and because I’ve drank coffee at so many of them it’s like I have free WiFi all over town.  Everywhere I go my phone is dinging from the internet connections it’s making.  It’s really kind of funny. 

My favorite restaurant is still Restaran Bjelovar.  They serve the best pizza I’ve had in Europe and it instantly became my daughter’s favorite.  Now to be fair, it’s the ONLY  restaurant she has been to so far but she does request it everyday.   The menu is in Croatian only but pretty easy to figure out.  My daughter orders the Quattro Formaggio. How can you go wrong there?  That’s not even Croatian.  And I just order anything that doesn’t have the word jaje (egg) in it.  Yes, that exists.  The pizza is served uncut and I think most people eat it with a knife and fork.  The building is very old with the original brick on the inside.  It definitely adds to the whole dining experience. 

We have driven through and visited the beautiful countryside that surrounds Bjelovar several times.  This was always my favorite part.  I can never get enough of looking at the village homes with flowers exploding from every window backdropped by green rolling hills with the big yellow church as the focal point. It always makes me want to say, “Stop the car!!!"

Next blog…We travel!