Adventures in Zagreb

Saturday (the 8th) I hopped on the six o'clock bus to Zagreb. The plan for the weekend was to explore Zagreb some more. I have been to Zagreb a few times but haven't really seen to much of it.

When I arrived in Zagreb Gabrielle (from Brazil) and her host mom picked me up and took me to their apartment, were I would be staying for the rest of the weekend.

View of Zagreb from Gabrielle's bedroom window. Medvednica mountain is in the background.

While waiting for lunch, Gabrielle and I took a walk down the street to a sports center. Her host mom is a teacher and the school uses the Sports center for gym class. There was a boys wrestling tournament going on and Branka (Gabrielles host mom) suggested we go and check it out.

Gabrielle and I concluded that the event reminded us of a chicken fight. The young boys were stuck in the ring, fighting each other, while eager parents, coaches and spectators cheered them on. Allot of the kids were very young and small and I was surprised how competitive they were for their age.

After watching the wresting for a bit we returned to the apartment for a delicious lunch. Afterwards Gabrielle and I hopped on a tram. The network of buses and trams here is quite amazing. Its slightly confusing to me but Gabrielle has it mastered.

We got stuck on one of the older trams, the newer ones are far nicer.

We rode out into New Zagreb and passed Gabrielle's school before arriving at the Avenue Mall. Nothing to special, just an average large mall. A total of twenty minutes was spent there, enough time for some ice cream and Gabrielle to buy a sweater.

A booth set up in the mall was selling ice cream in the form of balls so we decided to try it out. It was a bit hard to eat as the balls kept rolling off spoon but it was still good. I still prefer the regular creamy ice cream. Got to keep the hat is came in though.

After leaving the mall we hopped on a bus to the Town Center. There we met Emily (from Florida) and started our exploring.

Sign displaying the main attractions.Map of Zagreb.

Zagreb is the Capital City of Croatia and is over 900 years old. Map of Zagreb

The first place we visited was the Upper Town, Gradec. Gradec is a part of the Zagreb center and is situated on the hill of Gornji Grad.

Gradec was given a royal charter by King Bela IV in 1242. In this document Gradec was declared and proclaimed "a free royal city of Gradec, the hill of Zagreb." The citizens of Gradec built defensive walls and towers around their settlement because they feared a Tatar (Turkic-speaking ethnic group) invasion. They finished the fortification walls in the middle of the 13th century. The walls that enclose the settlement are in the shape of a triangle with rectangular and semicircular towers. There are four main gates leading to the town: the west gate in the Mesnička Street, the new north gate, later known as the Opatička Street gate, Dverce in the south and the Kamenita vrata (Stone gate) in the east. Kamenita vrata is the only gate still preserved to date.

The Funicular railway.(Uspinjača)

The railway is one of the shortest and steepest in the world. It first operated in 1889 (by steam) and in 1943 it came to be operated electrically. It connects Tomićeva Street (In the Lower town) to the Upper town. You can either take he railway, or walk up a flight of stairs to access the upper town. Only the residents that live in the upper town are allowed to drive there.

The funicular railway station at the top.

View from the top of the hill.

Setting sun on part of Zagreb.
Tower Lotršćak.

The Tower Lotršćak, that dates from the 13th Century, was built to guard the southern gate of the Gradec town wall. The square Romanesque tower once held a bell, that rang out each night prior to the closing of the gates. After such time anyone left outside the gates would have to remain there for the night. In the 19th century a fourth floor and windows were added to the Tower and a canon was placed on the top. The canon has been fired every day at noon since that time.

Church of St. Catherine.

This Jesuit Church was built the in first half of the 17th Century and is considered one of the finest churches in Zagreb. There was a wedding taking place so we couldn't go inside.

Church of St Mark.

This Parish Church of old Zagreb was built in the 13th century in Romanesque style. A Romanesque window and a Gothic doorway still remain from the original structure but many changes have been made since then. In the second half of the 14th century the church was radically reconstructed and it was then turned into a late Gothic church. From 1867 to 1882 the Church was renovated again. During this time the Church received its unique roof design. The tiles on the roof are arranged to represent the Coats of arms of the Republic of Croatia, Dalmatia, Savonia and Zagreb city.

Looking down a street in Upper Town.

The Stone Gate (Kamenita Vrata)

The Stone Gate in Zagreb’s Gornji Grad the only remaining gate. There is a story associated with this gate: "As the story goes, in 1731 a fire destroyed much of this area, burning all the houses to the ground. The gate displayed a painting of Mary and Jesus which was "miraculously" undamaged by the fire. To protect the painting a chapel was built and the painting remains behind a metal grille. The painting is visited regularly by people who come to pray and leave gifts."

It was starting to get to dark to sight see so we decided to go and sample some desserts at Gabrielle and Emily's favourite place.

Gabrielle at Vincek on Ilica street about to eat some tasty desserts.

Stjepan and Ankica Vincek opened their first pastry shop in 1977 in Zvonimirova Street in Zagreb. In 1993 the Vincek family opened the second pastry shop in Ilica Street. Vincek is known for their high quality desserts and reasonable prices.

The place is very popular and quite crowded but its worth the wait. Emily, Gabrielle and I ordered two cakes to try. Very delicious. Afterwards we got some ice cream.

Some of the ice creams at Vincek.

After polishing off our desserts, (rather quickly as they were good) we headed by tram to Maksimir Park. It was dark and cold so we didn't walk around. We just sat and waited for Greg and Kevin to arrive before heading back to the center.

Map of Maksimir Park.

Maksimir Park (Maksimirska) is a beautiful English style garden that covers 18 hectares, making it the largest park in Zagreb. The park was named after Bishop Maksimilijan Vrhovac who was responsible for the park's construction in 1794. Bishop Maksimilijan Vhorvec gave the park to the city of Zagreb that same year.There are two pavilions within the park, Bellevue Pavilion (built in 1843) and Echo Pavilion. The park has a network of walkways that lead you by man made lakes, wooded areas, and flower gardens. There is also a small zoo with a variety of animals. Unfortunately I didn't get to enjoy the beauty of the park in the daylight.

Gabrielle pointing out where we are in the park.

After meeting up with Greg and Kevin we all headed back to the Center. We decided to stop at a Kebab place. I had never had a Croatian Kebab.

So here is the Kebab I had, much different from the kebab I am used to, meat on a stick. It was extremely good and very filling.

After a peaceful sleep at Gabrielle's we headed back to the center to look around some more. Here are a few pictures from around the center:

Statue of Ban Jelačić in Jelačić Square. The statue was erected in 1866 but removed during the period of 1947-1990.

Croatian National Theatre.

A while ago I went to a show here on a class trip. I didn't understand anything and it was kind of boring. It was nice to go within the theatre though, beautiful interior. We also had balcony seats! On this trip to Zagreb we just walked by.

The Croatian National Theatre was established in 1840 in Zagreb. The theatre moved to this building in 1895.

Glavni Kolodvor.

This is Croatia's largest train station. Construction on the station began in 1890 and was officially opened in 1892.

Tram track.

Looking down one of streets. Shows the old architecture, tram tracks and cables.

Another Zagreb street.

Statue of the First Croatian King, King Tomislav (910-930)

Tomislav Square

Looking across the park at Tomislav square.

A small park alongside one of the streets leading to the center.

Tree-lined sidewalk on a nice sunny Sunday.

We visited the upper town again. This time we walked up instead of talking the funicular.

Alley way leading to the staircase that takes you to the upper town.

Tower Lotršćak.

The views of Zagreb from the upper town are spectacular.

In the middle ages Zagreb consisted of two settlements, ecclesiastic Kaptol and civil Gradec (Upper town). They didn't get along very well, therefore street that connects them is called Krvavi most (Bloody bridge). These pictures are taken from Gradec looking out at Kaptol.

A monument to St. Juraj (St. George) in front of the stone gate.

Walking down the road that leads up into the upper town.

Jelačić Square. You can see two new trams (the long blue things) dropping off and picking up people.

The last sight of the day was the Cathedral.

The Cathedral is dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin an Holy Kings Stjepan and Ladislav. Under the Cathedral you see today are the remains of the Pre-Tartar Cathedral which was built in the 12th century. It was ruined in 1242 during the Tartar invasion. In the second half of the 13ths century, Bishop Timotej began to construct on the remains of the Pre-Tartar Cathedral. That construstion is the basic architectuaral nucleas of the Cathedral today.

Virgin Mary statue in front of the cathedral.

Looking down the side of the Cathedral.

One of the round Towers.

Due to Turkish onslaughts at then end of the 15th century, Zagreb Cathedral became the most easterly European Cathedral and Croatia became "the border of Christianity" For these reasons more attention was paid to Catedrals fortifications. A great wall with round, Renaissance towers was built around the Cathedral. Today onlt parts of the wall and 5 towers remain standing.

Layout of the Cathedral

Inside the Cathedral.

The central nave of the Cathedral.

The central nave

In 1880 the Cathedral was damaged during an earthquake. During the reconstruction the two bell towers were added. Today the Cathedral is undergoing renovations.

One of the bell towers

Before heading home, the five of us went out for coffee and talked for a bit. We then parted. Kevin and I hopped on a bus back to our town.