Croatia: day 1 – Zagreb

Day 1: Zagreb: September 16th. 2018

Landed in Zagreb 7:30 after an overnight flight. Managed to get 1 to 2 hours sleep only. I bought a local SIM card for my phone for 80 kunas ($16) with unlimited internet for 7days. Why can’t we get that back home?!? Can’t beat that for navigating!!

Got our small Skoda rental car and drove to the centre of Zagreb and left the car in a parking garage to walk around the lower and upper town. From the garage we decided to walk up to the upper town in the hope to cut through.

We ended up near the famous museum of broken relationships and decided to take a look. Some funny, sarcastic, tragic stories all connected to one artifact on display. There was even one from Toronto with a stuffed loon as the artifact. Stories from all over the world.

We came to the church of Saint-Marc which is a historic building.

A little further up the road, we discovered the stairs to the lower town giving us a very clear indication of the elevation….packed!!

We came across lovely markets and some traditional singers along the way and finally had a caffe and croissant for breakfast on an outdoor patio.

Our airbandb was located right in the centre between the lower and upper so great location. Lots of stairs reminiscing of Edinburg.

We then decided to go on a historic war walking tour of the city which lasted almost 3 hours and was excellent. The majority of that tour was in the lower town. The 26 year old guide referred a lot of the history back to the story of his family which helped connect the events to the impact on every day life. We walked through great small alleyways where cafes were hidden at each turn.

Highlights included walking through the tunnels that were built to serve as bomb shelters for passerby during both WW2 and the recent war-1990-1995. Hidden from the sky, entrances to the tunnel are located in peoplés backyards. They were built under the natural hills and elevation of the town as the upper town is actually that….up the hill, therefore impossible to detect from the air. We are told that every house had a basement serving as a bomb shelter, stocked with necessities and mattress to survive while they were being bombed.

He gave us a very objective description of the role of Croatia during the WWII (aligned with the Nazis, those tunnels were restricted to Jews, Gipsies and Serbs) we are told that the Serbs had to wear a large embroidered S on their clothes to identify them similar to the Star of David for thé Jews. He explained the period under Tito and how the Yugoslavians were able to travel to the west AND the east countries as Tito navigated quite successfully the diplomatic relations with both sides. They still to this day have free health care and free university. We discussed the impact of the economic downturn following the death of Tito in 1980 which led to the political debacle which lead to the atrocious war of the 1990s

This tour is provided by the local tourist information centre located right at the edge of the main square. They meet at 11am at the statue and is 130 kuna per person. So well worth it.

After going back to the parking garage to grab our things, and walk back to the airbandb. I realized that I left my phone with the Croatian SIM card on the roof of the car. Back at the parking garage, we are told that someone found it and left their phone number to give it back. We begin starting calling her with no success. A nice Serbian server at a local bar across the street helped us place the call properly but still no answer. We gave him our email after his shift as he was trying to reach her for us. We walked to a main square in the lower town and had a meal. Lots of pizzas and burgers on all the menus!! I ordered a Gin martini which ended up being sweet martini and Rossi mixed with a shot of gin. He had no idea what a martini is!!!

We finally received a call back from the lady who found my phone and she drove back to us to return it. She would not accept money, just « some positive vibrations ». Great introduction to the kind Croatian people.

We walked to a bar where they played NFL games and as luck would have it, a group of Minnesotans on a tour walked in to watch the Minnesota game with Chuck. What are the chances.