Advertisement
Published: September 25th 2020
Edit Blog Post
After many wonderful days and adventures on the Adriatic coast, Nui and Nenad decided to explore the second face of Croatia, away from the coast, its hinterland. The massive mountain chains of the Dinaric Alps and a few smaller mountain ranges of Velebit, Biokovo and Velika Kapela, slice through the country from North to South, following the direction of the Adriatic coast. The highest point rising to 1'831 meters, making the land rough mountainous, rocky and steep on the West and hilly, full of forests and pastures on the East. These mountains serve as a climate divide as well. West of the mountains you find Mediterranean climate, East of them Continental. We experienced this to its most extreme impressive form, as we travelled from Vodice to Zagreb. We left the coast 9AM at 28 degrees with a very strong Bura (Bora) wind descending from the Velebit. Trucks and busses were not allowed on the freeway and Nenad had to negotiate with the winds in his small VW Golf at no more than 50km/h to reduce the risk of loosing control of the vehicle. After having crossed the 6 km tunnel of Sveti Rock through the Velebit massive, it was completely calm
with temperatures of 13 degrees.
Croatia officially called the "Republic of Croatia", is a country at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe. As you already know it was part of Socialistic Yugoslavia until its break up in 1991. The war that followed was devastating, cruel and still today, 30 years later, scars can be found on buildings and in the populations souls. The 4.1 million inhabitants are predominantly Catholic and speak the only national language Croatian, which is part of the Slavic family of languages, like Russian, Polish, Czech, Serbian, Slovenian and others. Its population is strongly declining due to migration, no new phenomena. What is a new phenomena is the low reproduction rate of 1.4 births per Croatian lady. Croatia borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herzegovina all around, and Montenegro to the southeast, sharing a maritime border with Italy. It is 57'000 km2 in size (in comparison Switzerland 40+k, Thailand 513+k and it is similar to the state of West Virginia). The country has two very different cultural faces; Adriatic coast and hinterland. The former was under Venetian influence and rule, hence the close proximity in its
architecture and food to other Venetian controlled areas in Italy, the latter influenced by the Hungarian kingdom and Slavic dukes, with very different aspects in food, customs and architecture. However the origins are Illyric and Roman, the overall bond in the middle ages was for centuries the Habsburg Empire, which incorporated the kingdom of Hungary as well as Venice in its vast and diverse empire.
A sovereign state, Croatia is a republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a member of the European Union (EU), the United Nations (UN), the Council of Europe, NATO, the World Trade Organization (WTO), and a founding member of the Union for the Mediterranean. As an active participant in the UN peacekeeping forces, Croatia has contributed troops to the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan, West Africa and other places and took a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2008–2009 term. Since 2000, the Croatian government has constantly invested in infrastructure, especially transport routes and facilities along the Pan-European corridors. Croatia's economy is dominated by tourism, service, industrial sectors and agriculture. Croatia is ranked among the top 20 most popular tourist destinations in the world. The state controls a part of the
economy, with substantial government expenditure. A legacy of communism. The European Union is Croatia's most important trading partner. Croatia provides social security, universal health care system, and a tuition-free primary and secondary education, while supporting culture through numerous public institutions and corporate investments in media and publishing.
Zagreb is the capital Nui and Nenad are visiting next. With its 800'000 inhabitants (greater Zagreb about 1.1 million) it is the center of the country for politics, economy education, sport and culture. Distinguished by its 18th- and 19th-century Austro-Hungarian architecture, it soon becomes clear that this important administrative center of the Austro Hungarian Empire saw its best days in the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. Many of its customs, social interaction, the local dialect and food are still today unmistakably "Habsburgian", better South East Austrian. Like in Ljubljana (see our earlier blog), also Zagreb has more in common with Graz than with cities of the rest of the Balkans. At its center, Upper Town is the site of the Gothic, twin-spired Zagreb Cathedral and 13th-century St. Mark’s Church, with a colorfully tiled roof. Nearby are pedestrian-friendly Streets, lined with outdoor cafes can be visited. The café house culture also
in this city being impressive and no matter when, even now under Covid, often well full.
The Lower Town is full of squares and parks. Most important the main square, with the statue of Croatian Ban (Count) Jelačić. (1801 – 1859) a noted Habsburg army general, remembered for his military campaigns against the Ottomans, where he gained fame and social and political standing. He was opposing Vienna and Budapest who wanted Croatia being integrated in the Hungarian kingdom. He aspired a direct rule of the Habsburgs. When not granted, he led a military revolt and achieved both partial independence within K&K and the abolition of serfdom in Croatia, a sad fact lingering on with the ultra conservative Hungarian rulers. Jelacic is a symbol for Croatians of it century long wish of independence, needless to say important also in the recent war. That is the reason why the statue is now standing with Jelacic's sword pointing South towards Belgrade ! (Don't come again).
Zagreb folks are proud of their museums, theatres, parks and square cafes. Covid has of course compromised this life style. What was more devastating was the recent earth quake which happened during lockdown in March 2020.
This earthquake of magnitude 5.3 and the epicenter only 4 km of the old city, has brought much of the population on to the streets in panic. And this with lockdown in place. The quake, which struck shortly after 6am local time on Sunday, caused widespread damage, including to the city’s cathedral, and needed evacuations of hospitals. Many buildings in the capital cracked and walls and rooftops were damaged. Streets were littered with debris. Concrete slabs fell on cars and chimneys landed in front of building entrances. It was a miracle that only one person was killed by falling debris. The earthquake was the biggest in Zagreb in the last 140 years. Many of Nenad's friends are affected, their apartments or business offices damaged to the degree of not being usable any more. The financial burden on the people is enormous and it is still unclear how many of the old buildings made of mortar and bricks are statically so unstable that they will have to be possibly removed. Of course most of the citizens do not have an earthquake insurance. Despite, the mood is one of resilience. One fellow climbed illegally on the rooftop of a building at the
Churches & Cafes
Habsburg life style main square and sprayed in big black letters visibly for miles "KEEP YOU HEADS HIGH"; the reaction of the government? Praise, of course the letters have not been removed ! Sometimes rules must be broken, says Nenad.
Nui was determined to solve a huge luxury problem. She says, she does not yet miss Thailand, but she misses Thai food. In all of Dalmatia we could not find an Asia shop with all necessary ingrediencies, so a poor Thai girl in the diaspora can survive. Too strong is the olive oil monopoly on food there. In Zagreb Nui did find it. Nenad's car was not big enough for all the stuff purchased......
Meeting with friends and catching up, strolling through the old city and exploring the famous Zagreb fresh fruit and vegetable market with all its local produce was a good change to the Mediterranean environment. Nenad showed Nui many new fruits she was unfamiliar with, he used to go and steal from the trees of neighbors with his rascal friends during his childhood days. The central market behind the main square is called Dolac. It is settled near the Cathedral just like in the 19th century when it
was started.
Nenad's excitement grew as we were preparing to drive through the countryside Northeast to his hometown Cakovec and province Medimurje, he has not been to in 18 years !!!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.071s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 10; qc: 46; dbt: 0.0464s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb