Zagreb, Croatia

I just spent the past 6 gays visiting Zagreb, Croatia.  Most of my friends had difficulty understanding why I wanted to visit a place so out of the way.  Their words not mine.

I told them, I’d heard how nice it was and decided to check it out.  I rented an apartment for  my time here because it gave me options but I never did any actual cooking because I discovered the bakeries.

I did use the refrigerator. More on that later.  The apartment was in the older part of the city where many of the apartments are hidden behind stone walls.

The picture to the right shows the small area inside the walls where my apartment is located. I rented a studio under the eves of the building on the left.  The apartment was quite small but very comfortable.

Due to the way the area was built so long ago, my lodging was off the street so the street noises were blocked off and it was quiet.

Most of the streets in the downtown area are narrow for vehicles due to parking, trollies, bicycles, and pedestrians.

A couple blocks over there is a strip of green running from the old town to the trolly station by the train station.  Each block of the parks had several statues, a historical building, trees, benches, and some fountains.

I enjoy walking in the parks, especially later in the evening when everyone is out enjoying the cooler weather.  I don’t think I have ever visited anywhere with so many statues.  Most of the statues are of the men who influenced the country but there are a few odd ones like The Dragon and the George.

The photo to the left is in honor of a woman who spent her whole life working at the public market selling produce.  When she died, the city decided to make a statue of her or at least that is the story according to the young man who lead our food tour.

The thing about Croatia is the number of small grocery stores. Even the larger supermarkets are still quite small in the old part of town. I loved stopping through the bakeries because of the wide variety of baked goods, some I’ Never seen in the United States.  And the breads have  character.  None of this mushy white bread we see sold in stores but breads with texture and flavor.

The other thing I noticed were there are tons of  “bars” but not the type you are used to.  Most are coffee bars also known as coffee houses but there are the occasional odd one such as the bagel and lobster bar or a wine and cheese bar,the coffee and champagne bar.   Many of these eating establishments have outdoor seating.

I hope you enjoyed this brief look at Zagreb.  I plan to share a bit mor about this city which has a history of over a millinium.  Let me know what you think because I would love to hear.  Have a great day.