Bok from Zagreb
For me Zagreb is kind of like that old friend that isn’t on Facebook and where I don’t catch up as often as I like, but when we reconnect it feels like yesterday. This week I caught up with Zag again and here’s what happened when we hit the town…
You know you are sometimes a bit scared you’ll get scammed via AirBnB. I had this for a split second when I saw when I got to the place I booked…
But inside I had nothing to fear. The place used to be an art gallery and there are little artworks, paintings and posters to remind you of this throughout. It’s on a busy street with lots of cafes and restaurants with locals sitting, sipping on their coffee and gossiping about everything you can think of.
Food, you know that thing we eat to live, but which is more recently branded as the coolest thing to do? Well, it’s hit Zagreb in a big way. You have the well known yellow/red chain, local food and hip hotspots. Otto & Frank is one of those places, great for breakfast and lunch. It was so good I went back two times and am drooling on the keyboard as I remember it right now, mmm.
Just a 30 minute ride from the city is Medvinica mountain rising out of the ground, complete with forts, caves and amazing views. I was mostly interested in the abandoned sanatorium. It’s apparently haunted, but more on that later.
There are a number of hiking trails leading back down from the mountain park, which you can see my attempting here in my best hiking gear. From Mihaljevic can take tram 14 and 8 back to Zagreb.
Sadly, Amelie isn’t named after that famous film. But the cakes it serves up can easily give you that sweet sincere happy feeling that film can muster up. The taste gets even better as you realise how light they are, without any excess cream or sugar. Just perfect. Also a WiFi Hotspot – so you can tell everyone about the deliciousness course on all platforms to your heart’s content.
I’m now going to mention a church. Yes, we’ve probably seen hundreds of types of religious buildings with spires, statues and all that god-related stuff. But Zagrebs’ St Mark’s Church is actually worth a look – it’s got what seems to be a lego-style rooftop mural which I hope they didn’t send kids up to build. Ok ok it’s not really lego, but colourful rooftiles laid out with coats of arms of the city and country.
South of the river is the Museum of Contemporary Art. Eqipped with the best air conditioning in the city – perfect for a typically hot Zagreb day! Nice selection of modern art by mainly Croatian and ex Yugoslavian artists- including a few cool (temporary) exhibits. But screw the culture – it’s all about the two metal slides that curve around the outside of the building, plus the mirrored table tennis. Plus, if it’s not your cup of tea, you can head to the shopping mall across the street.
Have I missed any places? And, is anyone heading to Zagreb soon?
Isn’t Zagreb pretty cool? I know a lot of people hate on it in comparison to the rest of Croatia but I absolutely loved living in Zagreb for a few months last spring! Love these photos xo
the museum of broken relationships is pretty cool!:) I’m glad you liked my country’s capital:)
I visited Zagreb recently but wasn’t sure what to think. We only really had time to spend a night there as we were heading to Sarajevo the next day. It doesn’t help that it was the first place we encountered rain! But your photos make it look so beautiful! Looks amazing.
Adventures with Steph
xoxo
Even though we were in Croatia twice we haven’t made it to Zagreb yet. Seems like a wonderful city and great that you can go hiking so near the center to combine city and nature.
Thanks for the restaurant tip, will bookmark it for when we head to Zagreb!