September 21, 2022

September 21, 2022

This morning we took an orientation driving tour of the Lower Town of Zagreb, Croatia. It was quick because this working heart of Zagreb is very compact. Zagreb has one million people and makes up a quarter of the population of Croatia. The main thing we learned is that in March 2020 Zagreb was hit with a devastating earthquake that damaged many older buildings. This explains the historical buildings undergoing renovation. The news got lost in a world overwhelmed with the onset of the Covid pandemic.

Our driver let us off in Old Town for a walking tour. The government buildings of Croatia straddle the colorful St Marks Church. Apparently the fencing in place is brand new and a reaction to protests against vaccine mandates. Aimee and I had to laugh because it mirrors the fencing our government likewise installed in DC. It seems elitist governments everywhere can’t abide citizens not accepting their ideas. Coercion always seems to be the liberal response.

We then passed the Cathedral of Sts. Cyril and Methodius. These are the two missionary brothers who brought Christianity to the Slavs. Unfortunately they also gave them the Cyrillic alphabet to confuse things.

After the walking tour Aimee and I did some more exploration on our own. We walked down a long tunnel under the old city that was built during WWII as a bomb shelter.

We then visited the very unique Museum of Broken Relationships. It started with some donated items each representing some story of loss. Giving away the personal item symbolized the grieving process. It has grown considerably from crowd-sourced collections and now has a traveling exhibit in the US. Reading about the lost relationship with each artifact is right up Aimee’s alley. She read everything. I mostly skimmed through it. It has all kinds of quirky items, from a boyfriend’s cell phone (given to the girlfriend so she couldn't call him anymore), to loved ones lost to accident, and even body parts lost to cancer.

Aimee is hungry so we walk around looking for a good restaurant. Outdoor street options seem everywhere, but almost nobody seems to be eating food. Croatians are really into drinking coffee and socializing without eating. So we return to ‘restaurant row’ and have curry dishes at a Sri Lankan cafe. Aimee had Lentil soup while I had some fried fish balls. They are made from Tuna which Croatians have caught for a millennia. Tuna has been so important to the economy it is featured on the 2 Kuna coin.

We then strolled through the market before finding a department store to buy snacks and yarn. We spent the rest of the afternoon at our hotel room resting. We went out for dinner intending to satisfy my urge for some authentic goulash. We didn't make it far; instead we stopped at a Nepalese restaurant with great Indian-style cuisine.