Searching for Refugee Stowaways

Sunday, Aug. 7, 2016--Ptuj to Zagreb

What a long and tiring day just to travel a distance of 95.5 km (59 miles) (by car)!  Of course, we traveled many more miles than that because we had to take a bus and 3 trains.  And the day was made more stressful by the fact that there was uncertainty about where to change trains.  The first segment was easy:  We caught the 10:05 bus from Ptuj back to Maribor (opposite direction of Zagreb) and arrived there at 10:50.  The first train trip was easy to catch, too; it left Maribor right on schedule at 12:48.  Then things became difficult.  The train was going too fast for my phone to register our location by GPS, and we were supposed to get off and change trains at a very small junction called Zidani Most.  We had to just use the expected time of arrival to go to the door and wait for the train to stop.  Beyond there, nothing was clear.  Our tickets for Zagreb did not state a train number or times.  We couldn't find the expected train on their departure schedule at Zidani Most, but our tickets indicated we would go through Dobova.  There was a train standing on the platform ready to leave for Dobova at that time, so we rushed to get on it.  It was a local train stopping at every town, so then we worried that maybe the Zagreb train would pass us somewhere along the way before we got to Dobova.  Anyway, that didn't happen, and when we were in Dobova, they told us the Zagreb train would come around 16:00--about an hour and 15 minutes later--give or take 20 minutes.

As we waited on the platform in Dobova, we saw a group of inspectors walk out to a track and squat as a freight train from Croatia came into the train yard.  They were looking for refugees that might be hiding under the trains to get into Europe.  A little while later, it happened again when another freight train pulled into the station from Croatia.  But this time something else happened.  When the train stopped, both Wes and I heard a tapping sound like a coin on metal from one of the cars that stopped near us.  As the inspectors came up the train knocking on cars and opening doors on empty ones, we told them.  They knocked and got no response.  The car was constructed so that it had 3 compartments with no access to the middle portion; the cars each pivoted out on hinges, so it would be easy to hide people in that middle section.  When they got no response from knocking, the inspectors continued on down the tracks to check the other cars on the train.  Wes tried to speculate that maybe it was metal popping from the heat.  But we both agreed that it sure did sound like someone clicking a coin against the wall.  We'll probably spend the rest of our lives wondering if a person was in there and if maybe he was in the process of dying when he made those clicks.

The Zagreb train finally arrived about 16:25.  It was filled with young people with many of them being Americans.  They didn't seem to be a group traveling together.  It made us wonder if maybe Zagreb is becoming the new "Prague."  Prague, several years ago, was very popular with young people because of the fact that it was inexpensive and attractive.

Anyway, before we left the station, both Slovenian and Croatian border patrols came through the train checking and stamping passports.  We eventually left about 16:50.

Just on the outskirts of Dobova, we passed a former refugee camp.  It consisted of big white tents in a fenced enclosure with razor wire around the top of the fence.  It is no longer being used.  The refugees who had made it to that camp must have either been resettled within Europe or sent back to Greece or Turkey. (Here is an article from October of last year about refugees in Dobova.  Here is a video, and here is another.)

We arrived in Zagreb at 17:20--about 7 1/2 hours after leaving Ptuj.  Then we had about a 40 minute walk to reach the apartment we have rented here via AIRBNB (Cozy two bedroom apartment).  Our hostess Romana and her husband Vasi were standing on the sidewalk and waiting for us.  She waved as we approached and was surprised that we arrived two minutes before we had estimated that we would be here.  Inside, she answered our questions, gave us information she thought we might need, and gave each of us a small heart-shaped candy that says "Zagreb" and has a little flower on it--a traditional gift to guests, she said.  The apartment is roomy and large and very clean and nice.  The only problems so far are 1) that street cars pass by regularly which will require us to get used to the sound and 2) Wes says there are mosquitoes.  We have closed the windows and turned on the a/c to try to deal with the latter problem.

We didn't have any Croatian currency, and we want to exchange extra Danish Kroner or Euros to get some rather than going to an ATM.  Since it is Sunday, that's not possible yet, so we went down the street to McDonald's for dinner which I think made Wes very happy.  Tomorrow, we will exchange currency and be able to go to local places.  After eating, we wandered our neighborhood called Kvatric.  We were so tired, though, that we returned to the apartment for the evening rather quickly.