We drove into Varazdin along a road fronted by houses with fields out the back. There were lots of fruit and vegetable stalls on the pavement so it seemed everyone grew their own. We stopped and bought the smallest watermelon we could find as we don’t have a big fridge. The stall owner didn’t speak English so we each talked our own language and we managed to buy it.

We then drove into Varazdin which was the old capital of Croatia from 1767. Unfortunately a big fire wiped out most of the buildings in 1776. The town hall was the only one untouched. The capital was then moved to Zagreb.

Our first mission in Varazdin was to do our laundry. There is a launderette here – not often found in Croatia or Slovenia. Walking there we went through a nice park with lovely flowers and a meteorological clock.

We got our clothes in the washing machine and then walked back across the park finding a cafe to have a drink for half an hour while waiting for it to finish.

We had some local drinks – mine being an English label Somersby nonalcoholic cider – made in Croatia. There are certainly a lot of apples here. It was sweet – but a nice drink.

We collected our washing, dropped it at the van and then went to check out the town.

First we saw the gatehouse and castle – both currently being renovated. The castle was mentioned in the 12th century and was created to defend against the Turks in the 16th Century.

We did a circuit of the castle on the bank where the castle wall stood. We got a nice view of the castle on the way round.

We then checked out the streets. There was a honey seller so we tried it – a sweet acacia and a non sweet full on chestnut. We bought the acacia as the chestnut was very different from what we are used to as honey.

There are many old buildings.

We checked out St Francis church with lots of gilt – but also a new window and a very old painting.

King Tomislav Square has the oldest building – the city hall on it, though the other buildings look equally old.

We found some street art and also an amazingly orange coloured mansion.

We were hot now so we got back to the van and drove off to our next location.

We went over the border on a bridge to Slovenia.

We arrived in Ormoz and first Glenn checked out the bird reserve – looking very positive for tomorrow morning.

We then went to the free aire which is next to the swimming pool. We are 1 of 3 vans. We filled up with water for 50c, found an electric socket with charge on it and then went for a swim. It was lovely and cool. There is also a cafe there with good food. It looks like we have everything we need for the weekend heatwave!