Rosie and The Operator are flying over inland Croatia en route to Zagreb, peering out of the window of the plane like excited school kids.
We are so close to our destination and the ground below is a patchwork of greens and browns. The summer has been long and hot, the harvests are in and the hay is being cut and baled.
Long skinny roads wind below, they have single rows of orange roofed houses all along them and culminate in a blob of a village with a big spire of a church in the middle. Large areas of forest interchange with cultivated farmland and open countryside, there seems to be way more land than people.
That is about to change, we are getting nearer to Zagreb, capitol city of Croatia with a population of 790,000. This city like any other major one in the world is huge vibrant and sprawling. Although the compact Old Town, does have a small town vibe with its winding alleyways and narrow streets. You know you are somewhere special with a checkered past as the style the buildings are built in depict who was in control of the city at the time.
We are staying in the heart of Old Town Zagreb, right in the Main Square (Ban Jelicac Square), no cars are allowed in this pedestrianised area so The Operator has stashed the wee car we collected from the airport in an underground car park about 200 meters away.
Trundling our bags along the footpath Rosie knew she was going to like this town…and we were only staying for one night! Off we raced to make the most of our short time here. Rosie and The Operator dump our bags and hit the town, time to stretch our legs after 32 hours of continuous travel.
Zagreb has been continuously populated since Prehistoric times. It is divided into two areas today as it was in the past. Zagreb began as two settlements perched on neighboring hills with a stream dividing them. These areas today are now called the Upper Town and Lower Town as a homage to the past. The Upper Town is the historical town center and the Lower Town is more modern, housing museums, galleries and beautiful parks, the stream has been filled in and this is now the lively restaurant area, Tkalcieva.
This square is the hub that unifies the Upper Town from the Lower Town, it was bustling! Trams were gliding along their rails, people were everywhere and a daily market was set up in the main square, the same place where it has been every day since 1641.
The sun was shining and reflecting off the huge, pastel colored ornate 18th century buildings that formed the backdrop of the square that was to be our home for the night.
The large equestrian statue of Ban Jeliac who the square is named after is the center piece of this space. This dude was a general in the Austrian army and Governor of Croatia in the mid 1800s abolishing serfdom and holding the first ever elections in the country.
Up the back of the hotel is Tkalciceva, a colourful, winding street full of two story, elegantly squat houses. The upper stories have wee shuttered garret style dormer windows and the ground floors are all cafes, restaurants, bars and small boutique stores whose terraces and wares spill out onto the street.
This area is alive and humming with people! Either you stroll and soak in the atmosphere or sit on the terrace of your choice…..and do exactly the same. The afternoon autumn sun was so warm, the sunny side of the street was definitely the most popular today! We stopped for a brief sojourn to orientate ourselves with our tourist information and then we were off again, no time to dally today Rosie, we will come back later.
This statue is of Marija Zagorka, (1873-1957) a woman well ahead of her time who was the first female journalist in Croatia and a champion of equal rights. She stands watching all the shenanigans that happen on this bawdy street in a small shady area in front of a giant sundial.
Walking up to the high point of the Upper Town there is a range of stairways and alleyways you could take from Tkalciceva Street. The route we took was a small steep climb on railway sleeper stairs and there was a small vineyard on one side of the stairs, grape vines in rows growing on the small steep incline, in the middle of the city!
The stairway leads to St Marks Square where the 13th Century church stands, glowing white in the sunshine. A huge flock of pigeons are out in force today and are flying en mass from one side of the square to the other, putting on an ethereal show of unity and grace, there wing flaps echoing around the square.
The square has government buildings built in a perfect horseshoe around the church and the roof of the church itself is decorated in beautiful tiles depicting the Croatian coats of Arms.
Down the road is the Lotrscak Tower, it is a thirteenth century medieval tower with a small lookout post on the top. The bells of the tower used to summon the townsfolk in from the fields at sunset when the gates to the town were locked for the night. Now, it is most famous for its daily midday cannon firing that the locals set their watches by.
The story goes that the Hungarian King presented the cannon to the city in 1242 as a thank you for protecting him from marauding Turks, the condition was that the cannon had to be fired every day to stop it from rusting…..well, the tradition only seemed to be initiated in 1877….but true to their word, the cannon has been fired every day since then at midday.
The Strossmayer Promenade starts on the top of the hill overlooking the town. It is a beautiful strip of green belt that makes you think you are no longer in the city.
Artists are set up selling their works under the trees, small souvenir booths ply their wares, the view is magnificent looking back over Zagreb’s rooftops to the cathedral.
We opted to walk down the hill instead of taking the funicular down, why bother, the ques were long and we had already done the hard yards walking up the hill to begin with. The alleyway to town was full of graffiti and small shops lined the way.
It was late afternoon and street food vendors were starting to appear on the streets to catch the dinner trade….Rosie was feeling a bit hungry, The Operator was feeling a bit thirsty, we cant stop just yet, a few more things to see,
Next stop is to the Cathedral of The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, its hard to miss, its spires soar over the town and it has been peeping above the gables at us all afternoon.
Like all great city cathedrals its foundations were laid eons ago in 1094, and it has eternally been ‘added on’ over time with the main facade being rebuilt in the 19th century after an earthquake destroyed it in 1880. It is beautiful and under reconstruction…the late afternoon sun was bright behind the statute of Mary making her look like she really was ‘assumpting’.
A nice story is that the old town still has 214 gas lamps from 1863 as street lighting. Every evening at dusk two lamplighters, employed by the city, go around and light the lanterns by hand. Rosie and The Operator were already tucked up in a bar by this time and didn’t witness the lighting of the lamps.
Funny thing is this ceremony is rated on Tripadvisor as one of the things to watch in Zagreb…..one reviewer gave it a one star rating as ‘the lamplighter was very rude in not stopping what he was doing so he could pose for a picture with my son’. Imagine them doing that with every tourist…the sun would have already risen.
Back to Tkalciceva we went for dinner, a beauty mixed grill and a bowl of goulash with a pint of Croatian lager, the colourful lights of the bars and restaurants were on as the light faded from the sky, it was nice to relax after a very long couple of days on the go. What a great start to our holiday and introduction to Croatia.
But wait, its not over yet, after a good catch up on sleep and living by our motto ‘early to bed, early to rise’, we went out to catch the Dolac Market behind out hotel. Almost every district in the city has an open air fruit, vege and fish market, Dolac is the most famous one known as ‘the belly of Zagreb’ by the locals. To reach the square we climbed this set of stairs that had a statue representing the market at the top, the lady with the apple basket on her head, right in the top left of the photo.
It seemed like alot of Zagreb lived by Rosie and The Operators motto, this market was bustling already. We kind of expected it though, the banging and crashing of stalls being set up, the trucks coming and going delivering goods from outside our hotel window started at about 4.30 am.
The colour, variety and display of goods was amazing, all set against the blue sky and shadows of the morning light. The old buildings that surrounded the market with the cathedral peeping over the top set the storybook scene.
Rosie and The Operator underestimated this city! Rosie decided to only spend one night here as the city didn’t sound as exciting as our other destinations. How wrong was she! We haven’t even scratched the surface of this town and would dearly love to come back one day. But, for now we are moving on….The coast awaits and the town of Rovinj is calling.
