In Krapina: Another loop through Zagorje

August 27, 2020

Last night we partook in our new evening ritual: walking from our apartment to the town center for dinner, along the path that follows the Krapinica. It’s a pretty walk, with ducks and even a heron testing the waters this evening. There are a fair number of strollers and children out, some masked, some not. We keep our distance and occasionally mask up when it seems called for. Midway to the center there’s a playground beside the river - open to the public, parents sitting around keeping an eye on their children playing on the equipment. It feels so refreshingly normal.

We have dinner on the patio of Kramburger, the only other real restaurant open tonight. Gourmet dining it’s not, but our grilled chicken and Cesar salad is at least passable, and pairs well with a glass of white wine and three bottles of water from the bar next door. It’s too hot at first, and we hide in the small bit of shade we can find; but soon a breeze picks up, the sun drops below the roofline, and it’s quite pleasant.

So Krapina doesn’t seem to have any Michelin rated restaurants. It does though have an excellent ice cream shop near the river, halfway back to the room. It’s refreshing to sit on a bench you the river, nurse our cones, and watch the world go by.

Our new evening ritual: walking beside the Krapinica to the town center for dinner.

The Krapinica is a pretty lazy stream now, but I imagine it carries some water in the spring.

Stalking the Krapinica. The grey heron, Europe’s counterpart to our great blue heron, is a very similar species with only subtle differences. I’ve been surprised at how often we’ve seen them here, often out in the a field stalking in the grass.

We’re off on a second loop through the Zagorje today, one I spent a half hour working over last night before I found one that felt right for our conditioning. We’ve really been sticking mostly to the flats for the last two months, and our climbing legs have atrophied. We’re being cautious about the routes we choose now, getting in enough climbing for some conditioning while leaving something for the days to come.

Today’s route fit the bill well - an East-West oval with a good balance of relaxed riverside riding interspersed with a climb or six. And pretty quiet the whole way - no stretches where the traffic troubled us much at all.

The Zagorje is really fine cycling country, and we’re not done with it yet. We leave tomorrow for Varazdin, but after that we’ll double back through here on our way west toward the coast, stopping over at a neighboring town just a few miles from here for a few nights.