The train ride from Ljubljana to Zagreb was very pretty, following the Sava river through many beautiful country villages.
After about two and a half hours we arrived in Zagreb’s central station and thankfully our hotel was within walking distance so we didn’t have to deal with dodgy taxi drivers. Our hotel was awesome – the Esplanade, 5 star comfort was very nice after a long time on the road.
Once checked in we did the usual walk around town to get our bearings and grab some lunch. We headed straight down to the central town square, Ban Jalacic, and then up to Zagreb Cathedral.
Zagreb Cathedral
We passed many restaurants along the way, but none would serve food in their alfresco area, we still don’t know why – maybe it was the time. We were getting desperate because Bel had a boot blowout
and we eventually found a place overlooking the central market, a huge fresh food market that opens every day.
After settling in the waitress then explained to us that most of the things on the menu had run out and suggested we have the seafood plate, which we did given our choices were limited. Thankfully it was very nice and not too expensive.
After lunch we walked a bit further and it turned out that the main Old Town restaurant strip was just around the corner! Bugger.
At 5pm we went on an evening walking tour of the city. There was only one other person in the group, so it was pretty much a private tour.
Our guide started the tour with a brief history lesson on Croatia. It was a familiar story to the other countries we had visited with regard to the changes with the world wars. The real differences were the influence from the Turks/Ottoman empire and the Tito ruled Yugoslavia. Our guide was very passionate about an independent Croatia.
The tour took us to the two old towns centres, they are both small and pretty much beside each other. The first was Kaptol. The main features are Zagreb Cathedral and the Markets, which were empty given the time but we did learn that there was another whole level under earth selling meat and cheese! We had a look inside the cathedral, but didn’t stay long as a mass was about to start.
From here we entered a tunnel that was an old bunker tunnel that went straight under the city to the Funicular. Our guide explained that people use the maze tunnels as short cuts across the central city to avoid the crowds.
We caught the Funicular up the hill – it was a very short ride as it’s a very small hill, and arrived in the second old town – Gradec.
We started at the remaining entry gate of the old city wall and then toured the town.
It still includes a functioning Jesuit high school first opened in the 1600s. The high schools in Croatia operate on two shifts 8am-1pm and then 1.30pm-7.30pm, and the students rotate each week. It means the school can support twice as many students.
One of the cool features of the town was that they had restored all of the street lights to gas lights – no electric.
On our way down the hill we came to a site that houses a picture of Mary that had been declared by the Vatican a holy miracle due to its survival of a house fire in which the painting came out of the ashes virtually unscathed. It is now a holy site visited by many worshippers.
The tour ended back at the main square and we headed of to find a place for dinner.
The next day we had no tours booked and we just cruised around the city. We started with breakfast from a street stall – a nice ham and cheese omelette.
We then headed to the food Market with the meat and cheese to do some shopping. It was a lot of fun. Our guide had told us what cheese and salami to try – Pag cheese is a sheep’s cheese from an island where they lick the salt off the rocks, and Kulen salami was his favourite. We got both and a bread stick. The people were all very helpful and even cut it up for us ready for a picnic.
From here we walked through the back streets up the hill to Gradec. We had a chance to see a few of the same places in the daylight.
We wanted to check out the Museum of Broken Relationships. It was very cool, with lots of items with stories attached about how they were part of a broken relationship. My favourite was the bike story (of course).
At 10min to 12 we headed to the town gate to watch the Cannon. It is fired at exactly 12pm every day and has been doing so for over a hundred years with a small break during the war.
The sound of the cannon was deafening. Much louder than we expected and caught most of the crowd by surprise.
After the cannon had fired we were allowed to climb up to the top and see the cannon – no wonder it was loud!
From the top we had great views across the city.
By now it was well passed lunch time, and we went straight to a place that we spotted the day before that sold the local street burger – Pljeskavica, but we were too late and she had sold out! So we went in search of another place and found one near the markets. It it just meat and Turkish bread with raw onion on the side, very nice.
That afternoon we spent the remainder of our time in Zagreb just relaxing, wandering through the old towns, checking out the bars and restaurants and then a place for dinner. It had been another great stop, another new country and culture.
