Today we’re in Zagreb, the capital and largest city in Croatia. The city has about 800,000 residents (a million with the near suburbs). About a quarter of Croatia’s population lives in the metropolitan area.
We are only 40 miles from Gnojnice, the village from which Greg’s grandfather emigrated around 1912.
Our hotel is a half block from Ban Josip Jelačić Square, the central square and heart of Zagreb. It sits on the divide between the Church Town and the Merchant Town, commonly known now as the Upper Town and the Lower Town. Today, the Upper Town features ornate old churches, narrow streets, and medieval walls, while the Lower Town has art museums, government buildings, cultural centers and a mash-up of 19th century and brutalist architecture.
Josip Jelačić himself. He was a Count who united the neighboring settlements into a single city in 1850. He’s been moved around the square a few times, facing different directions, and was hidden for several years by Tito.
Our walking tour took us to a little funicular that is the shortest public transportation route in the world - only 215 feet. It connects the Lower and Upper towns with a 55 second ride.
(There are also several stair routes connecting the two parts, and steeply sloped cobblestone streets.)
View from the Upper Town over the Lower Town
An old tower marks the location of one of the four city gates. It’s now a tourist information center. A bell atop the tower used to ring to warn people working in the fields below that it was approaching time to close the city gates. It was eventually replaced by a cannon. Today, the cannon (poking out of the top right window) is fired at noon each day in remembrance of the tradition.
There is excellent signage for tourists - a good thing as the streets in the Upper Town are not so much a grid as a sprawling warren.
Construction cranes and scaffolding are everywhere. Part is new construction, but the vast majority is renovation following the 2020 earthquake. Only one of the churches we passed this morning was open - we could peek through the back door to see the interior of Saints Cyril and Methodius Greek Catholic (Orthodox) Church.
St. Mark’s Church is just down the block, capped by an eye-catching, patriotic tiled roof - and draped scaffolding. Also visible are a few of the over 400 gas lanterns in this part of town. Every evening they are lit by a gentleman with a long pole, and extinguished the next morning with a similar snuffer.
The Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary has been badly damaged several times over the centuries. Both the 1880 and 2020 earthquake caused extensive damage. The steeple on the right fell onto the adjoining building in the most recent quake. The one of the left was removed after the earthquake and is sitting on the pavement below. Our guide, who has lived here for 33 years, said she’s never seen the cathedral without scaffolding.
It’s not as if the city is a collapsing ruin, though. It’s a pretty, charming town with a mix of Viennese, Hungarian and traditional architecture. There are 28 bustling farmers markets scattered throughout 23 neighborhoods. They operate year round, seven days a week, in all weathers.
A green horseshoe of connected parks flanked by public buildings and parks, including botanical gardens, embraces the lower town.
National Archives building
Croatian National Theatre
Zagreb has an efficient and inexpensive transportation network, with blue tram cars connecting the city. A ticket good for 35 minutes is only 53 cents.
Zagreb has a lively outdoor dining scene, with most restaurants spilling onto the sidewalks, or in wider pedestrian areas, the middle of the street. We’ve heard about coffee culture throughout the Balkans. People meet with friends for coffee, which can be a three hour gossip session over a single espresso each.
We’ve seldom seen any litter throughout our time in the Balkans, but graffiti seems to be a regional art form.
The Stone Gate, the last remaining of the four medieval city gates around the Upper Town, houses a painting of Mary and Child that is said to have miraculously survived a fire there. People come to pray to the painting. Over the years, hundreds of people have left tiles on the walls, thanking Mary. (The word Hvala or derivatives means “thank you”.)
Greg and I visited the quirky Museum of Broken Relationships. Winner of the Most Creative Museum in Europe award, it houses a collection of momentos and straightforward explanatory notes donated by people from around the world. They range from family relationships to romances. Some are touching, some funny, some heartbreaking, This regretful note is from someone who had to end her love affair with pizza after developing gluten intolerance.
Fun Fact:
We’ve heard several times during the course of this trip that men have the Croatians to thank for neckties. It didn’t start as a fashion statement, but as scarves that women tied around the necks of their husbands and sons who went off to war. It would remind them someone was waiting for them, and also could serve as an identifier for a body. The French thought they looked rather dashing, and started wearing them, calling them cravats (from Croates). I guess we can just be glad they didn’t similarly adopt the fez.
I skipped dinner tonight and took a walk around the green horseshoe of city parks. All the food has been good - but so much of it! I needed a little breather
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