#4 on our Country list…Croatia

A fairly frustrating drive from Ljubljana to Zagreb with our Google assistant having no clue how to count exits in a round-about or know when to turn. But, with my trusty navigator and wife of 41 years, we made it!  Weather has been absolutely wonderful. Mid-70’s for highs and no rain, couldn’t be better. The only downside is that we brought some winter clothes for when it gets cooler, which doesn’t seem to be in the near future.

So now here we are in Zagreb (pronounced, “zaa greb”). Our apartment is located close to old town but still far enough away that the street noise is minimal. And when I talk of Zagreb’s Old Town, there are actually two, one Upper Old Town and one Lower Old Town. We’re close to both.

We arrived early so we drove to Lower Old Town to do some exploring before checking in. Found a nice parking garage and started out. The main square, Ban Josip Jelacic Square, seems to be where everyone converges. At one end is the Cathedral of Zagreb covered in scaffolding for repairs; and the other end is the Market Dolac where one can buy any kind of flower that comes to mind.

Who is Ban Josip Jelacic? Glad you asked. In Croatia he is considered a national hero. He was the Governor of Croatia in the early 1800’s credited with leading the army against the revolutionary Hungarian forces during the revolution. And “Ban” in Croatian means Governor.

The Cathedral of Zagreb, the one with all the scaffolding, is temporarily closed for renovations. As a matter of fact, lets talk about things that are temporarily closed in Zagreb. Let’s start with 19 of the 41 museums (just happens to be museums like history, art, culture, etc.); the Cathedral of Zagreb, Saint Mark’s Church, Saint Catherine’s Church, and Saint Francis Church. The open museums are the Cannabis Museum, the Chocolate Museum, The Museum of Broken Relationships (went there), The Hangover Museum (didn’t go in there), etc. So if you’re coming to Zagreb for a cultural fix, may want to wait a bit.

But you know, we’re still in Croatia so life is great! Since we struck out on our first round choices, we went for a sure thing, lunch. There’s no shortage of restaurants and cafes here so that was an easy choice. Dropped into one of the cafes on the pedestrian mall for a quick bite, pizza for me and good ole squid ink risotto with cuttle fish for Mama-san.

Done with lunch so time to check in to our apartment and plan out tomorrow.