Time dragged, especially during work hours. I had difficulty focusing and getting through a full eight hour day, but I managed. By the end of the week things improved. It was likely due to a busy weekend full of beer tasting. The weather improved mid-week, though it remained stuffy like the air before storm that never came. I used this time to go for a short run, only to feel a slight stomachache after about 3 kilometers, so I turned back home early. I tried again the next day and it went better.
Veronika had to make an unplanned trip to Makarska over the weekend, just after I had cancelled my own trip to Slovakia. I stayed in Zagreb all alone and used this time to visit Samobor - it turned out to be a really good trip.
On the way there, I followed some paths that ran alongside small streams or channels, occasionally passing larger gardening plots and lakes. It's hard to describe, as we don't have much of this kind of landscape back home, and I'm not entirely sure of its purpose.
The whole area is flat, with a man-made embankment surrounding what looked like artificial streams, bordered by vast, open plains.It might be flood-prevention infrastructure, but the extensive network of dusty paths seemed more developed that expected.
Samobor felt very familiar and reminded me of Banska Stiavnica or even my home town Banska Bystrica. Unlike those places, though, Samobor is less hilly, was likely never a mining town, and appears to be in better overall condition. It's obvious that people have more money to take care of it since its close to Croatia's capital city.
The sense of familiarity comes from, once again, shared Austro-Hungarian Empire architectural style. It is also no coincidence that both towns received their privileges from the same monarch Béla IV of Hungary: Samobor in 1242 and Banska Bystrica in 1255.
Anyway there was a cycling competition in the city center so it was closed to the public. I took a side path, found a bench next to the river, rested, reapplied sunscreen and then headed back. On my way back I followed a lovely, long cycling path until I rejoined the route I had taken earlier. It was a really good trip.
The next day I had a long restful sleep. After a breakfast, I went to Jarun for a combination of cycling and light TRX workout. The temperature was hitting 30 degrees, but aside from some salty sweat, I didn't mind at all. Jarun was lively, the coffee places were occupied and I did short TRX routine at one of the shaded outdoor workout spots beneath old trees. I'll definitely do it again.
Media ingest
Observation
- First day of the June and temperature was attacking 30 degrees already. Last week I wore windbreaker jacket since temperature was around 10 degrees.
- There was a public holiday here on Friday. I didn't see a person around as if everyone disappeared. Still wondering how the summer will look like.
Training
- TRX routine
- 93km cycling
- 9.74 running
Backlog
- Still have to explore Nova Runda brewery
- Do the 70km south route
- Next weekend friend comes to a beer brewery competition, I'll go and meet with him for a while