Zagreb

Hello everyone,

with a few days delay I am now getting back to you with the final reports on our stops in the Balkans. The past few days, we visited a new city every day or went on day trips, which is why I didn't have much time to write.

From Hungary, we drove straight past Lake Balaton to the capital of Croatia. Here, we got our first hint that it is currently holiday season. The traffic jam heading towards the Croatian coast was unbelievably long, and it took several hours to get through.

So, we fought our way to our campsite right next to the highway (unfortunately, we couldn't find another place in Zagreb), set up our tent, and then drove into the city. Unfortunately, there was no park and ride, so we had to park in an underground garage.

From there, we walked to the city center and the meeting point for the free walking tour. We were a little early, so we took a break in a wonderful little café/pub.

The café spam is over :D

We then made our way back to the main square and looked for an orange umbrella. However, this became problematic when it started raining and there were a lot of people walking around with umbrellas. After almost approaching a few wrong people, we finally found the right one and were taken on a tour of the city accompanied by some stories.

The tour started with the Stone Gate, one of the last city gates still standing. According to the legend in the city and what the ancient people believed, witches cannot enter through this gate as they would die immediately due to its sanctity. In general, witch hunting was a big topic in Zagreb. Women with blue eyes, blonde hair, and weighing less than 60 kg were generally considered witches. Also, any woman who had "professional" success and too much medical knowledge.

I didn't burst into flames, but steam definitely came out of my ears when I thought about all the injustice that was done to these innocent women.

On the left side of the insignia or crest, you can see the typical checkered pattern, 3 lion heads (which actually looked more like 3 coins to me, but back then there was no National Geographic or Google to do research on), the 3 colors of the Balkans (blue/white/red), and Croatia's national animal - the dachshund.

No joke, in reality it's the marten or in Croatian: the kuna. That was also the currency before the euro was introduced in Croatia this year. I found it very funny to imagine that 3 martens were traded for 1 peach on the market.

The coat of arms of Zagreb consists of a city with doors that are always open, symbolizing the city's hospitality.

To the right and left are other important buildings, such as:

Zagreb was built on 2 hills, and this square is located on the first hill. From here, we continued through the city to the other hill.

The special thing in the old town of Zagreb is that the street lamps are supplied with gas, and there are 2 people who walk through the city with fire sticks once a day to turn on the lamps. Unfortunately, we didn't see them, but we did see a lit lamp.

On the other hill is the cathedral and the market in Zagreb:

It might be impractical to take the city map with you here. (By the way, the columns are not rivers but exposure slots.)

No one really knows how the city name Zagreb originated, but there is a legend in which the mayor said to the well-keeper: "Schöpf mir Wasser." (which means "scoop me water" in English). This phrase is similar to Zagreb in Croatian.

That was the end of the tour, and afterwards, we made our way through the many city parks that form a U-shape through the city.

On the way through the entire city and also in most of the photos, it can be seen that Zagreb is currently undergoing repairs/restorations. This is due to the two earthquakes in 2020, which affected a large part of the city, and also a storm that ravaged the city 3 days before we arrived. We can count ourselves lucky that we were not yet on the campsite at that time, as it was also hit hard. Due to the storm, some of the parks/events/etc. were still closed and unfortunately, we couldn't see them.

As it started to get dark, we made our way back.

All in all, a really beautiful city and definitely worth a visit. Next time, however, I would also like to stay overnight and experience the nightlife a bit.

Lots of love to all of you!
Your Britta

On our way through the city, we also found something at the Zagreb Fire Department that reminded me a lot of my collecting uncle. There were several toy fire trucks on display. So, greetings to my uncle: