5.07.2007

The Unexpected Beauty of Zagreb

Despite a fairly uncomfortable night train from Belgrade to Zagreb, in which one of my fat, Serbian couchette-mates kept getting too close for comfort, I felt pretty good at 530am when we arrived. I must digress- if you´re not familiar with the couchette setup, it consists of cabin with two rows of three seats facing each other. All seats recline fully to create three narrow beds and mine ended up being the one closest to the window.

Of course, I was stuck with two gianormous Serbian men, one of whom kept letting his hands stray in my direction over the course of the night. At one point I felt his hand on my knee and hissed at him, but he pretended to be asleep. I considered causing a scene, but I figured explaining the problem in Serbian/Russian would be more of a hassle than it was worth. Plus, I promised myself I wouldn´t cause any international incidents this trip.

Anyway, the train arrived early, and after booking my tickets onto Ljubljana and checking my baggage, I began my tour of Zagreb. The train station is near several large, beautiful parks surrounded by baroque style buildings, museums and ornate fountains. Zagreb truly feels like Western Europe - I have not seen a single pair of steel-tipped stillettos or men wearing tracksuits.

After a delicious apple strudel and cappuccino for breakfast, I wandered through the old town area. There are two sections: Gradec and Kaptol, two neighborhoods that once were warring medieval towns, until they encountered a mutual enemy - the Ottoman Empire, circa 1300. Both neighborhoods, known as Upper Zagreb today, consist of winding, narrow cobble stoned streets, cafes, restaurants, churches (Catholic, since Croatia is predominantly so) and the famous Dolac market, which sells fruit, flowers, baskets and the like.

Although Zagreb is a big city (almost 1 million), it is by far the cleanest city I have seen this trip, beside the seaside towns. Beautiful architecture interspered with vibrant parks give you the sense that this is what Vienna may have looked like 100 years ago, before it became a major financial/commercial hub in Central Europe.

I must catch my train to Ljubljana now, but more later, as always.

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