Downtown (Zagreb)

Well, dear reader, it appears Zagreb is weird imho. There are many, many, many places for coffee and alcohol (except on Sunday evening) and none of them serve food. Breakfast has proven to be a challenge. It appears it is okay here to purchase take-away and bring it to your favourite café/bar to order an accompanying drink. I am not comfortable with this concept. Western training does not allow food purchased elsewhere to be "consumed on the premises". But then at home, just about anywhere that sells coffee and alcohol serves food, in the widest sense of the word. 

Not in Zagreb though, there are four establishments en route from our hotel to the main square, about 200 metres. You are able to purchase alcoholic drinks and coffee at all of them, but none sell anything to eat. Back in the day when my breakfast was coffee and a cigarette, this would have been okay, but no longer. I gave up smoking 20 years ago, so it would only have been half a breakfast without the cigarette.

Feeling culturally out of my depth, we hit the Visitor Information Centre, scored a walking map of the city that listed points of interest and we asked where one might find a café that served breakfast. The directions led us to a street where everyone was seated at cafés, smoking and drinking coffee. No food in sight. One place offered a croissant with their coffee. Yeah nah. We had an espresso. No croissant.

Back down in the square we found a store that sold pastries and rolls and purchased something we could eat as we walked. It was all we really wanted for breakfast but it would have been better had we been able to sit and enjoy it. It also cost less than €10 and the hotel breakfast for two was €48.

Grand architecture everywhere amid beautiful gardens.

Today we were exploring 'lower town' or the area below the main square, down toward the railway station and King Tomislav Square. While this was our primary tourist focus, our choice of lower versus upper town had been dictated by our primary life focus - the need to do our laundry after almost two weeks on the road.  On arrival at our hotel, we had inquired about recommendations for drop off laundry services. The hotel concierge started to tell us about the laundry price list we would find in our room. I informed him we were not that rich. He looked confused so we simply resolved to Google laundries near us. This search produced a destination in the lower town which aligned neatly with our intended tourism walking route. After breakfast, such as it was.

And it's autumn here.

En route to the Laundry Room, we encountered the upper end of the park that stretches up from the railway station. It was reasonably quiet but we noticed the number of people enjoying it grew throughout the day as we criss-crossed the area. There was a mobile barbeque corn cob stand on one corner. Who knew that was a thing? I believe the only good use for corn is on a hook catching carp.

Tranquility in the middle of the city.

Laundry Room located, the lovely attendant weighed the bag of washing in her hand, €14 she said. Come back in 2 hours. No receipt, no coupon, just come back in 2 hours. That was more than enough time to do what our tourist map suggested. As we walked towards our next destination, mental maths was swirling in my brain. That's about 4 pairs of underpants at the hotel - a bargain at the price, given it was a full two week's worth of washing.

King Tomislav.

We followed the walking tour map down through the park to the statue of King Tomislav, adjacent to the train station. There were multiple tour groups in this area. It was interesting watching them cram onto the trolley buses. Across the tram lines is the Esplanade Hotel, our meeting point of transfer to Rovinj on Wednesday. It has a grand exterior and was built to house wealthy passengers from the Orient Express.

The National Archives.

Further down the street, the next point of interest was the Botanic Gardens. It is not a huge space but is filled with a lot of interesting specimens. As we crunched down the gravel path, I asked Jayne about the possibility of there being a Wollemi Pine, among all the other pines. And then there it was. The dinosaur tree from Australia. I know there are strong links between Australia and Croatia, but this surprised me.

A piece of Australiana and pre-history in the botanic gardens.

There was a camera crew filming varying places in the garden, we'll never know why. We just continued following paths at random. The water garden display was small, but there were numerous lilies in flower. The walled ponds contained frogs and tadpoles as well as the plants.

Pictures of lily. Get it?

Jayne alerted my attention to a little frog who was unable to surmount the wall and return to the pond. His efforts continually resulted in him sliding down the lip of the pond. He wasn't going to survive in the heat so I scooped him up and popped him on a lily pad. 

Saved. He's now looking for his princess.

A number of the buildings across Zagreb, and Ljubljana for that matter, are Art Nouveau. Many have been built or rebuilt after earthquakes. The favourite colour for buildings, dear reader? Yellow, of course, what excellent taste they have. Sadly, many of the buildings of interest are under some sort of renovation and are shielded from sight by scaffolding and screens.

Should be easy to get through the eye of this needle.

Squares abound, as do statues, sculptures and fountains. We came across the 29m high stainless steel Needle outside the Academy of Music and across the street was the National Theatre. In its forecourt was the Well of Life, a sculpture that featured four heterosexual couples, a lone male and baby surrounding a shallow well. I shall make no further comment except to note that it was created in 1905 and the world has changed significantly since that time.

The Croatian circle of life.

Our next target was the statue of Nikola Tesla, engineer, inventor, futurist and naturalised citizen of the USA. He was born and educated in Croatia. I'm unconvinced that he is revered by locals. His statue was partially surrounded by metal barricades, containing construction debris, and a decent view was blocked by a truck. It all looked a little sad. Then again it could all be Elon's fault. I have seen only one Tesla in Croatia.

Tesla always said he was humiliated.

After a rejuvenating beer at a bustling square, we continued our journey, following the map that was not quite accurate. Sometimes the designated points were not so easy to locate. The Grounded Sun was somewhat disappointing. It's just a golden orb that sits in the middle of street with with no vehicle access. It is covered in stickers and graffiti and looks like a giant lost marble. Would not recommend seeking it out, unless you just happen upon it.

Our solar system is in trouble.

The Octagon Building with its glass cupola proved more difficult to find. Undeterred we followed our broad-picture map and were contemplating consulting Google when I espied someone taking photographs down an archway. This proved to be the photo-worthy glass dome of the building and provided a shortcut from one part of the city to another. 

Hard to find but worth the hunt.

In fact, the Octagon shortcut led us out onto the longest street in the city which also happens to be the shopping district, surprisingly containing a Pandora shop! Croatian charm secured, we headed back to collect our perfectly laundered, folded and packed clothes. On the way back to our hotel, we reconnoîtred the restaurant situation for dinner. Venue selected, we went home to rest, change and return for our evening meal.

The dinner venue was Ribice, away from the main shopping area, which proved to be very popular with the locals. Downstairs was fully booked so we were directed upstairs where there were another four rooms, two of which filled up as we dined. The extensive menu draws on a fusion of cuisines but sources produce locally. Jayne enjoyed the zucchini rolls stuffed with goat cheese and capers, followed by seafood risotto. Adriatic coast seafood is a feature. I had scallops in the shell in garlic and white wine followed by octopus risotto. It was all paired with a Croatian white wine , recommended by our waiter. It was a lovely meal and was certainly worth the exploration away from the main tourist areas.

It was less than a 10 minute walk back to the hotel, past the park where the corn seller was still plying his trade. Downtown Zagreb is done which brings us to the 1964 classic, Downtown, by Petula Clark.

Until tomorrow.

And Upper Town.