Zagreb, Croatia--a gem in the heart of Europe

cathedral towers looming above Zagreb

Croatia has had many overlords on its way to independence, including the Venetians, Turks, Austro-Hungarians and Serbs.  Under General Tito, Croatia became a part of Yugoslavia after World War II, but on his death, Yugoslavia crumbled and, finally in 1991, after a brutal war with Serbia, became an independent nation.

baroque Art Museum

Its capital, Zagreb, is a lovely mini-Vienna, with beautiful baroque buildings and parks filling its old city center.  Often destroyed by earthquakes, Zagreb was mostly rebuilt in the late 19th century.  The atrium roof of the Art Museum is rather interesting.  It was built for an exhibition hall in Vienna, but after the exhibition, was transported to Zagreb where it needed a building to hold it up--hence the art museum.
The cathedral, which collapsed in the 1880 earthquake, is still under reconstruction, though mostly rebuilt.  Inside is a very interesting slab covered with an inscription in the early Croatian script, Glagolitsa.  Apparently, there are many stones and papers with Glagolitsa inscriptions being decoded and studied by Croatian scholars.

glagolitsa script

Zagreb's population of 1 million is a cafe-loving culture.  Long streets of sidewalk cafes are filled with people drinking their beloved coffee and, too many of them, smoking, as they chat with friends and watch the life of the city around them.  In the main square, which is noisy with trams, tourists and shoppers, there is a fountain powered by an artesian flow of water rather than a pump.  Sometimes it shoots up 10 feet or so and sometimes it is quieter.

St Mark's Church

Two unusual and delightful museums near the colorful St. Mark's Church are "must-see's".  I've never heard of a Museum of Broken Relationships before (though apparently there is now one in Los Angeles), but don't miss the one in Zagreb.  A couple started collecting mementos of broken relationships in their travels about the world and eventually opened their museum with 1500 of these objects given to them by people from many countries.  They are items and letters that remind their former owners of their ex-lovers, with a story about the broken relationship attached.  Some are very funny and others are sad and poignant.  There are 2 wedding dresses from marriages cut short by betrayal and death, a boyfriend's cell phone he gave his jilted lover so she'd stop calling him, an old bicycle one man gave his girlfriend just before he bought a new bike and rode off into the sunset, a stationery bike a husband gave his wife before he learned she "liked riding more than the bike" and much more.

Luxury cruise ship from the Museum of Naive Art

Across the street is the Croatian Museum of Naive Art, featuring wonderful paintings by self-taught Croatian "primitive" artists, full of exquisite detail and brimming with Croatian life.  I'm sure there are many naif museums in the world, but the only other one I've seen is in Rio, the Museu Internacional de Arte Naif, which is so beautiful--and right near the tram to the top of Corcavado. I recommend a visit to both these unusual museums if you come to Zagreb.

Gypsy wedding, Museum of Naive Art

Nearby is the busy Dolac Market where vendors sell vegetables and fruit, flowers and handmade souvenirs.  In the arcade below the square, more shops sell various kinds of meat, while above the square are the fishmongers.