Big P´s European Adventure-Chapter 12-Hrvatska! (Zagreb and Split)

I rode a natural high into Croatia. My whole life, i´d always been so excited to visit the land of my ancestors. I don´t know what it is about Croatia, but i´ve always felt more of a connection to it than my German or Irish roots. I was so excited getting off the train in Zagreb as i headed to the main town square. It was a Sunday afternoon and all the locals were out. There was old men performing on stage, all sorts of things being sold in an open market and culture all around. Jelacic´s statue in the center used to face the Hungarians, but was taken down and hidden during WWII for preservation purposes. Now he´s been reassembled and faces the Serbs. I took pictures of Jelacic´s statue ( a croatian hero who helped to preserve the culture from the Hungarians by fighting alongside the hapsburgs in the 1800s) in the town square and left to ride the funicular to the top of Gradec (old town on the top of the hill overlooking zagreb). Zagreb´s center used to be two old towns-Gradec and Kaptol. I saw the Burglar´s tower at the top of the hill, with its cannon still showing in the top window and ventured further up the hill to see St. Mark´s Square. With St. Mark´s church in the middle, the square is surrounded by official buildings-the parliament, the offices of the prime minister and president, the croatian history museum, etc. From here, i walked through the Stone gate, which features a picture of Mary and Jesus that miraculously survived a big fire. There´s definitely something in the air in this gate, where many croatians go to light candles and pray. I got chills every time i walked through. I also was reminded of when i was a little kid and my grandmother would always light candles in church and say prayers. From here, i visited St. Catherine´s, the main huge church of Zagreb and went to old Kaptol for lunch. My favorite part of Zagreb (besides my new favorite beer Karlovacko) is the cafe culture. The streets of the old town are lined with bars and cafes where everyone sits outside. It´s fantastic. I had some of the best meals and food of my trip here in Croatia as well. My lunch involves sort of a funny story. I loved the beer mugs with the croatian checkerboards on them so much that i had to snag one to bring home to Fred (shaft). So, i stuffed it under my jacket after i was finished with my beer. My waiter walked by and said, "oh my- i forgot your beer!" I told him it wasn´t a big deal, don´t worry about it and he insisted on bringing me another beer. So not only did i steal a mug, but by doing so i was awarded a free beer...haha....i had to laugh at this to myself...After lunch (the best mushroom soup i´ve ever had and fried oysters and brocolli with Karlovacko to wash it all down), i visted an Internet cafe to see if Zagreb had any sort of gay scene. There was one bar listed so i went to visit. i missed it at first and had to double back. WHen i came to the address, there was nothing there but residences. Looking closer at the buzzers, i saw the name of the bar. So, i buzzed it and went to the back. i came to a door and rang the bell and a man answered and let me in. The lone gay bar in Zagreb was so underground that it was in an apartment. The bar was his kitchen and people sat in the living room to meet, etc. ONly one man there spoke good english and we talked over beers about the war, croatia´s history, why the gay culture is so conservative, etc. This was another one of those connections i will remember and cherish. i learned so much from this old man. Later, a man named ivan came through. he was from croatia, but living in germany now. He invited me along to meet one of his old friends for a drink so i went. THese two older men were very friendly and i got to experience more of Zagréb´s cafe culture as we sat outside chatting and drinking Karlovacko. I learned more about croatia and its history...Soon enough, it was time for me to run as i had an over-night train to Split to catch. I was off to view the Croatian coast!

So, while in Zagreb, i decided since i´d seen everything to take overnight trains to split and back instead of renting a room. I´m glad i did so because the coast was beautiful ( and i wasn´t even blessed with good weather)! I got in, wondered around Diocletian´s palace ( a roman emperor from split who came back to live once his rule of Rome was over) and the town´s market. It´s funny how the town and all these shops are built right into what used to be Diocletian´s palace. I bought some fruit and went to the beach to lay out....since the weather didn´t allow it, i hiked along the coast and back through split to the other side where Marjan Park was located. I hiked from one end of the park to other, climbing hill after hill to get better views of downtown Split and the coast. Some of the views i got were breathtaking. Exhausted from hiking all day, i did a little shopping and went to sit down to a traditional Croatian dinner at Fife´s. Luckily, i was joined by a group of Hostal-ers from the UK, Canada, and Australia. We had an excellent meal and stayed on this restaurant´s patio drinking the night away. We even did a shot of Slip-o-vitz together! We had great conversation and once again shared one of those connections i keep talking about....i would have made a better attempt to keep in touch with these kids, but one of them pointed out that it was 3 minutes until the baggage check at the train station closed!!! Having lost track of time, i grabbed my shopping bags and sprinted to the station, hollering my email to the young group on my way out the door ( i don´t think any of them were in a state to remember such a thing). I sprinted all the way across the Riva, the old town, and the harbor, arriving at the baggage check 1 minute after closing time as the lady was locking up! whew....Then of course, i could not find my baggage claim ticket and i told her i would just get my passport out of my bags to show her it was me. THis spawned misplaced passport freakout episode number 2! I couldn´t locate it, so she took down my info from my license and i had to run to catch my train back to zagreb. Getting a whole room to myself on the train, i dumped everything out and eventually found my passport....whew!

AFter packing everything back up, i enjoyed a full moon lighting up Croatia´s coast and countryside as i fell asleep riding back to zagreb. I´ll never forget the way i felt this night, at peace with life and thinking of all my loved ones, hoping they too would get to enjoy this beautiful full moon.

ONce back in Zagreb, i had one goal-shop, shop, shop! i bought every sort of croatian soccer gear imaginable as this would be a rare opportunity in life to do so. Afterwards, i went to the Zagreb archives and spent hours trying to find more information of my great grandparents, izidor and zora plese. With no luck, i took the information of the archives to contact them later when i know more about the year of their birth and what church they belonged to...for now, it was a train ride to vienna and then my flight to Barcelona!

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