Tr avel report ZAGREB
gave up on trying to introduce take away coffee. “It didn’t work”, our tour guide told us. “Coffee is something we sit and enjoy for two hours in the street with friends.”
It’s the only city where you see men singing in the street as a social activity, the entire upper town’s street lights are lit and put out individually by one man each morning and evening, and a lunch break is three hours, not one.
Unmissable attractions include the rainbow-tiled roof of St Mark’s Church and the quirky but fascinating Museum of Broken Relationships - an exhibition of banal objects with people’s real life stories about the failed relationships they come from.
Zagreb is undoubtedly the perfect antidote for urban explorers who love to wander without a map, but are looking to escape the familiar sights of Americanisation and tourist-catered English menus in Amsterdam and Prague.
And speaking of menus, you’ll be pushed finding better grub than in some of the capital’s dazzling array of restaurants.
From the traditional, home-style cooking at famous Stari Fijaker, to the Italian-veranda style seating outside Agava, the meat is wholesome and filling, while the fish is so fresh it could well have still been swimming while you perused the menu. Try the skirpavac cheese - similar to halloumi - or give the fresh sea bream and Swiss chard a try.
Other small and less obvious quirks include the Gric Tunnel which traverses part of the city centre and provides a short-cut for the city’s inhabitants, while a source of marvel for tourists. The concrete bunker-style tunnel helped those fleeing bombs in WWII to escape.
Nowadays it acts as an exhibition hall and is currently decorated with thousands of garlands of flowers while serene music echoes throughout.
If you’re looking for a quiet afternoon walk, catch the 106 bus from outside Zagreb Cathedral in Kaptol Square for the 10-minute ride to the necropolis that is Mirogoj Cemetery, where many famous Croats are buried.
It may not sound the most obvious of attractions, but you’ll gawp at the spectacular architecture. Or if you don’t fancy leaving the homely feel of the centre, check out the turtles swimming in the pools at the Botanical Garden, or follow the sculptures of the solar system planets dotted about the lower town.
A week in Croatia in the summer is the perfect opportunity to fulfil the decision between culture and chilling on the beach; just over an hour’s trip away is the stunning Dalmatian coast, from the fairytaleesque Split built into Roman ruins, to the tourist honeypot site Dubrovnik. Croatia has everything you’d want from a sun-soaked summer getaway, minus the negatives tourism can create.