When you stroll through the public park in Zagreb, Croatia on a summer’s evening after the heat of the day has cooled, and you realize you can hear Elvis singing in the distance, you know you’re in for an interesting experience.
Party in the Park!
We were supposed to spend two weeks in Croatia. Our plan was to explore Zagreb for a few days then travel to Split, on the coast for several days, and then back to Zagreb for a couple of more days. But in an effort to simplify our itinerary a bit and avoid the intense heat of Lucifer, we opted for a quick weekend stop over in Zagreb on our way to Ljubljana, Slovenia. And, as it turned out Saturday was a national holiday in Croatia – Homeland Thanksgiving Day – hence Elivs singing in the park. Party in the park!
Welcome to Croatia
If you’ve been following our journey across Europe you already know that our experience crossing the border from Hungary to Croatia was less than ideal, but once we stepped off of the train into Zagreb and realized our guest house accommodations were less than a block away, the stress of the day fell away. Well, that and downing about a gallon of cold water to cool our body temps.
We were delighted to discover our guest house was literally across the street from a beautiful park and each evening the fountain waters splashed in subtle color. It was lovely. So much so that on one of our evenings we ate a picnic dinner in the park.
Still battling the last days of the intense global heat wave, we shade hopped our way around Zagreb and although I hate to admit it, we shadowed an English-speaking tour group just long enough to find our way to the war tunnels. We’re sneaky like that.
War Tunnels
Before we arrived in Zagreb we had no idea the tunnels even existed, but once we did know, our curiosity was piqued and we knew we had to explore such an unusual site. From what we understand the tunnels were built during WWII by Ante Pavelic, a fascist dictator who used them as escape tunnels and connections to bunkers. There are several entrances/exits open to those who wish to explore a few of the tunnels, it’s actually pretty interesting.
We found it a bit bizarre though to hear Michael Jackson piped in as we walked the tunnels. Although, I did read that the tunnels were used as a RAVE venue in the 90’s, so maybe it makes sense.
Changing of the Guards
Although we often plan out many of our days right down to the minute, we also fly blind a lot of the time. I’ve said before we spend a lot of our time just rambling. We leave our accommodations and just let our feet find their way. Sometimes we find incredible views…
and sometimes we find ourselves in the most interesting places at just the right moments. You would think we would have heard the daily town cannon boom each day at noon (yes, there is such a thing) but you’d be wrong.
I don’t know how we didn’t hear it, but there you go. We did, however, find ourselves watching the changing of the Cravat Regiment Guard in the town plaza and it was fun to watch the procession.
A Weekend in Zagreb!
Our visit to Zagreb was a brief visit, but it was a good visit. I enjoyed my first ever crispy poached egg, curiosity got the better of me with that one. We climbed up the hill to take in the views and rode down on the funicular. I think we did that backwards. We wandered aimlessly throughout the historic core of the city and came across a pretty little chapel where we had a rather interesting albeit strange conversation with an elderly man who wanted to impose his political views once he knew we were from the US. He also wanted to know why I wasn’t Catholic, which reminded me of my conversation with Carl on the Camino de Santiago.
We stayed in the nicest little guest house hosted by the nicest couple with a cutie little boy. A ride on the efficient tram system around the perimeter of the city allowed us to glean a sense of the scale of Zagreb. More than one visit to the farmer’s market gave us a glimpse of daily life and we ate our fair share of gelato while sitting back and watching daily life pass by. And, we ate delicious burgers and even ordered a second round of fries because they were that good.
Thank you, Zagreb, we had a grand time and we look forward to our return!
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Sounds like you had some fun retro music experiences. I am still astounded at Michael Jackson’s popularity in many of the countries we’ve been to. It’s definitely strange to be walking in a foreign city and hear “Beat
it!” passing by a cafe. Loved the video of the changing of the guard and have to comment on their uniforms with the cloaks worn off-the-shoulder. And hey – so glad you’re finding gelato to cool you down during the heat wave!
Anita @ No Particular Place To Go recently posted…Bohemian Rhapsody: Cesky Krumlov
It is surreal, Anita. Pretty much everywhere we go we hear American music in the background. In Vienna we ordered street food and an Asian man cooked our food while Katy Perry sang in the background. Ya gotta love the diversity of the world.
The gelato is good, but doesn’t compare to the cranky Italian in Lagos! 😉
Hey, thanks for the shout out Patti!
2 years ago we spent about 4 days in Zagreb and were also roasting under the sun. I’m not sure honestly if it was any cooler than Split where at least you get the sea breezes (and where you can walk around in your bathing suit).
Glad you had a good first experience in Croatia! Hope you come back in the future (in the off season). There’s so much to see and it’s always best to explore when not too hot.
Frank (bbqboy)
Frank recently posted…Our experience shipping belongings from Canada to Europe. Europack VS AGS, costs, and dealing with Croatian duties and taxes.
We’d really loved to visit Split and Dubrovnik, Frank. As you know we almost got there this time, but it just didn’t work. Next time!
Did you find the museum of Broken Hearts??? Funniest place ever.
Broken Relationships… Yes, we found it. We went twice and both times we were told the museum was too crowded come back in 30 minutes. So, it will remain a mystery to us as neither of us was inclined to wait in the heat.
Thanks for your adventure I feel like I am there!
Ted
Hey Ted, good to hear from you! Thanks for traveling along with us.