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Published: July 10th 2015
Thursday morning started with a continental breakfast, which we figured would be light pastries. Oh how wrong we were. James said it was the biggest breakfast buffet he had seen – there was a selection of cheeses and marinated veggies, meats, yogurt, smoothies, eggs, sausages, and hot dogs (every little kids dream come true – hot dog for breakfast), local pancakes which are like crepes with jam in the middle, and American pancakes. Additionally, there was a huge selection of breads and pastries with a machine that dispenses Nutella! Or something like Nutella. Espresso drinks are a huge deal in Croatia, so there is also a machine that makes a good cappuccino. There was also champagne set out for those inclined to start their day with a mimosa. Feeling stuffed and caffeinated we set out to meet our tour guide, who took us all over the city of Zagreb explaining the history and culture.
Thank you Dorothy Haugo for the tour! We started our tour through the “promenade” area – a sort of City Park, which in the 1800s was the spot to meet your future wife, that is, after her mother approved of your salary, property, and status first.
Surrounding and throughout the Promenade are several public-oriented buildings, including an Academy for Art and Science that is sort of a “hall of fame” for Croatian artists and scientists. Inside the academy and on display were two interesting pieces: a large, stone tablet from the 1100s depicting one of the first written forms of Glagolitic inscriptions and the sarcophagus of St. Simon. From our understanding, the Glagolitic alphabet was the predecessor to Cyrillic and the basis for written Slavic languages. The second artifact was the sarcophagus of St. Simon, which was taken to Zadar several centuries ago by the Venetians when the Dalmatian Coast was controlled by Venetians. The sarcophagus was sculpted to show St. Simon laying on a pillow that was made of gold, which symbolizes that he was a Saint. For biblical history, it was explained that St. Simon was the one who identified Jesus as a prophet in the temple when Jesus was a young boy. While finishing up the tour of the Promenade area, the tour guide pointed out the former US Consulate, now a French Consulate, where he would read magazines as a boy to learn English. Apparently the consulate no longer meets US security
requirements, so the US Consulate built a "massive structure" elsewhere.
Our next major stop was Kaptol – along with Gradec, it was one of the two Medieval towns that “merged” to form Zagreb. On our way, we passed a former synagogue that was razed when the Nazis controlled Yugoslavia. A plaque now stands as memorial and there are talks that it may be rebuilt. Apparently at the time the Nazis took over, the population of Zagreb was approximately 20 percent Jewish. We also made a brief stop at Jelacic Square which commemorates Josip Jelacic who was key to the end of feudalistic systems in Croatia. Inside this square was also a natural spring which is common to this area of Croatia. From these springs, Zagreb gets its name – a verb similar-sounding to Zagreb means “to scoop water”, as in scooping water from the natural springs around the area.
Kaptol was a former bishop town, which housed the cathedral and the bishop was essentially the feudal lord. The surrounding wall can still be seen in many places. Within Kaptol we saw the cathedral, one of Zagreb’s most recognizable landmarks. It has been under construction for the past 25
Flowers - Cathedral
Around the cathedral were these pretty coat of arms looking displays from planted flowers.years because its façade was built of sandstone, which is slowly eroding due to humidity. They are slowly replacing it with travertine, which is the lighter, whiter colors seen in the photos. Inside the church we saw a large metal locking mechanism that was used to secure the doors against Mongols several centuries ago – at some point in the Middle Ages, the entire town was sacked by Ogedei Khan, the son of Genghis Khan. We saw a small memorial to St. Cyril, who apparently invented the Glagolitic alphabet and presented it to the Slavs. We also saw the sarcophagus of a former cardinal (a Catholic position above a bishop) who was cardinal through WWII and the following decades. When the Soviets liberated Yugoslavia from the Nazis, the cardinal was imprisoned for the remainder of his term when he was considered to be a Nazi sympathizer. The cardinal is very important to the Croatian people and he may become a Saint in the future. Our tour guide then went on to explain that when Yugoslavia was a communist country, Catholicism was not banned, but if you were “a somebody”, you weren’t allowed to go to church. He then explained that
teachers were “a somebody” and it would have been a bad example for a teacher to be seen going to church.
On our walk to Gradec, we passed through a large market where local farmers and craftsmen sell their goods. The market is daily and has a very impressive selections of fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses, and crafts. After that, we crossed through Tkalciceva (where we got dinner the night before) and our tour guide explained that this was the former location where poor people that couldn’t afford to live in either of the two hill cities lived. It was also the home of brothels and a river, which has since been covered and paved. The river now flows below the city in tunnels but it does flood the City every now and then. At this location was also the street of “Bloody Bridge” which got its name from the former bridge over the river that was the site of feuds between the two cities which apparently did not get along well (he described it similar to Hatfields and McCoys). Just before entering Gradec, we passed a pharmacy that was opened by the grandson of Dante (of Divine Comedy fame)
Cathedral
They are working on the tower on the right. Look closely at the color variation on the cathedral - the lighter sections are the new travertine in 1355! After that, we passed through the former Easton gate (“East Gate”) which is now a shrine. We asked how the gate became a shrine and our tour guide explained that during the 1800s there was a fire in the area and the only item to survive the fire untouched was a painting of the Virgin Mary (even the frame burned, but the painting itself was unscathed…despite being an oil painting on wood). The picture now hangs within the gatehouse and is the centerpiece to the shrine.
Contrary to what you would expect with names of Kaptol and Gradec, Gradec is actually the site of the national parliament, Constitutional court, and prime minister. There is also a church there with ceramic roof tiles arrange in a way to display the Coat of Arms for Zagreb and Croatia. He explained the Croatian Coat of Arms for Zagreb represents different regions, including Croatia (a checkerboard pattern), the Dalmatian Coast (three lions), and Slovenia (“East Croatia”, with a Kuna). The Kuna (Marten in English) is a small animal whose fur was so valuable that during the Middles Ages it was accepted as currency. Today, the Croatian currency is the Kuna, however,
it is soon changing to the Euro. On a short cut to a park, we walked by a tall building as the church bells began signaling it was noon. Our guide promptly forewarned us of a cannon shot, which is fired every day to mark the noon hour. We rounded the corner of the building just in time to see the cannon fire, at which point Stacey jumped out of surprise, despite the warning. We walked through the Jager hotel – the oldest hotel in Zagreb. Jager is the German word for hunter, and the guide explained that this hotel was the resting spot after hunts. It was also a reminder of the importance of Austria on Croatian culture, as for several centuries this area was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Our tour guide took us to the shopping district and showed us the best street for restaurants. At that point the tour was over and we did as the locals do…found a place for espresso drinks.
After our cappuccinos, we found lunch at one of the bakeries. On almost every street in Zagreb there are small bakeries with fresh breads, pastries, and savory goods. We stopped in one
Old Clock
During an earthquake the tower with that clock fell, so they hung what was left of the clock on the old wall that surrounded the city. The two white pillars are showing the before/after of the sandstone on the church being replaced by travertine. of these to get some lunch to go. I have no idea what we got, but this time James made the wiser meal choice. His had cheese, herbs and bread, Stacey’s was just cheese and bread, but it had some bitterness to it, almost like vinegar. The bread was delicious, and we were both content with our lunch. We walked from the bakery to Pivovara Medvedgrad, the micro-brewery we spotted yesterday. James ordered a flight of their beers, which we both sampled. His favorite was the Dva Klasa, a wheat beer that Stacey is convinced was made from Belgian yeast. Croatia’s “heavily hopped” beers are not quite up to the IPA standards of the US, but they were enjoyable. From here, we walked back through the town, stopping in souvenir shops, including the market we saw earlier in the tour. After some light shopping, we went to the Croatian Museum of Naïve Art, which is a collection of art painted by artists that were not formally trained in a school or otherwise – for most of the artists, art was probably their hobby, not career. There were some interesting pieces of art (James’ favorite title: “My cross-eyed neighbor, Steve”) and
Cathedral
Close up of the entrance a few that looked like what James would have drawn in middle school, but overall most were very good (if you haven’t seen oil paintings on glass, you should, because it looks amazing) and it was an overall worthwhile stop. After debating stopping at the popular Museum of Broken Relationships, we aimed for the Croatian Museum of Natural History instead. Despite following the signs, we were not able to find it and instead decided that a drink on a patio sounded pretty great too. We headed towards Jelacic Square where we sat in a sidewalk café and enjoyed some people-watching. The café was called Aida and was a Vienna café that served coffee, alcohol, ice cream and cakes - what more do you need? (Stacey briefly considered living in the Café.) We decided to come back after dinner to try their dessert options. Stacey enjoyed her first martini – everything is in Croatian and so it is hard to know exactly what you are ordering, but this was the first place that listed ingredients. She ordered a Martini Champagne: Procceco and Rose wine. It came out with a sugar coated rim, but tasted more of port than anything else. It
was quite delicious. James tried a lemon Ozujsko beer, which was quite refreshing. Following our drinks we made our way to dinner at the tour guide’s recommended Vinodor. Here we had a red wine from Italy made by a family that’s been in the winemaking industry for 600 years – it was very good wine, but we both agreed Idaho had some that were better. We both ordered veal meals – Stacey got a baked veal with potatoes and James got a veal stuffed with spinach and parmesan with a side of croquettes. We both agreed this was the best meal so far on the trip. We thought about dessert, but decided to head back to where we got drinks before at Aida, the Vienna café with tons of cake and ice cream options. Stacey got the Moroccan Cake – three layers of chocolate sponge cake with a chocolate cream filling, and James got the Mozart Cake – layers of chocolate sponge cake, pistachio marzipan, and chocolate fondant filling. We also got cappuccinos to go with our desserts. It was the perfect end to our full day in Zagreb.
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Barbara Gallois
non-member comment
Off to a good start
Wonderful idea this blog. Beautiful photos and amazing history.