Osijek

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Guesthouse Maksimilian

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midtownmjd
midtownmjd
First Reviewer
5 out of 5
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1
Review
6
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Editor Pick

Lucky to Find This Place!

  • October 11, 2009
  • Rated 5 of 5 by midtownmjd from New York, New York
Lucky to Find This Place!

My experience at Maksimilian had an auspicious beginning.

My friends and I arrived in Osijek, Croatia, after 10:30pm on a Sunday after driving from Budapest, and quickly realized that we had NO IDEA where the guesthouse was. We had an address, but our map wasn’t adequate and our GPS wasn’t working. We had a phone number, but we couldn’t get it to work. And Osijek is big: it’s the fourth-largest city in Croatia. As we debated the best course of action, we pulled over on a random, quiet street. When we noticed that this residential street had a small bar at the end of it, we decided to go in and ask if they knew where to find Franjevacka Street. It was a long (long, long) shot, but what did we have to lose?

We walked in and found only two men: the bartender and one patron. We showed them the address, and they shook their heads. Never heard of it. Just as we were about to turn and leave, the bartender looked further down on our paper and saw the guesthouse’s name.

"Ah, Maksimilian? The guy who runs it left this bar five minutes ago!"

The bartender called the guy, who was apparently also his friend, on his cell phone and told us to drive down the street until we found a guy riding a bicycle. That man would lead us to our guesthouse.

I was skeptical, to say the least; it really seemed like a scam. But lo and behold, Bicycle Guy led us all the way across town to Guesthouse Maksimilian. And it was true that he worked there. Good thing we happened upon the random locals’ bar on a random street that our guy was just visiting! The bartender and the Maksimilian employee were as surprised as we were.

The experience only got better from there. I can’t recommend this place highly enough as a nice budget option for eastern Croatia. We had a suite with two double rooms and a bathroom, and it had a lot of nice touches: mini-fridge, ceiling fans, toothbrushes and toiletries, towels.

We served ourselves breakfast (instant coffee, cereals, meat and cheese, breads and spreads) in the lovely kitchen and enjoyed conversing in three languages with a great couple from Paris.

When it was time to leave for our drive to Bosnia, the guy from the night before and the owner bid us farewell with helpful directions and instructions to call them if we needed anything at all, even in Sarajevo, where the owner’s father lives and could help us.

Maksimilian’s building, area, and amenities are very nice for the price, but the real reason to stay is for the hospitality.

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