"Sleeping beauty" a Zagreb Travel Page by Zo72

I get confused when it comes to writing about Zagreb. I was born there and most of my family and friends live there. I studied in Zagreb during 90-es which was probaby the hardest time of my life because of war and war psychosis. I was never sorry for moving to optimistic Ljubljana in 1999. But then again whenever I visit Zagreb I get strong feeling like that I'm missing something I'm not even aware of and I get strong desire to return and to walk the streets of Ilica and old Vlaska again, sqares of "green horseshoe" (as complex of most beautiful sqares in Zagreb are often described), banks of Sava river, to miss again most beautiful plane trees of Tomislav square that somebody cut down during 90-es and to travel the city using good old uncomfortable tram.

Croatia was punished heavily for its war of liberation in early nineties and this fate struck heavily its capital and focal point, Zagreb. While other cental European cities, once far behind Zagreb, became world's favorite destinations, Zagreb was simply erased from minds and hearts of the people. Though distance from Vienna to Prague or to Zagreb is somewhat alike, there are no hords of jolly tourists on trains heading here. Once I was walking endless streets of Vienna and kid's game with flags of world countries in some shop window attracted my intention. Since I like this kind of stuff I started researching it and I was deeply disappointed to notice that Croatian flag was not listed among European. Actually it was not there at all. But Croatia exists and Zagreb is still here, 5 hours by car from Vienna. Once considered most beautiful city of Yugoslavia and its economic centre it is even more beautiful today then ever.

Zagreb can offer a lot. It is an old city. Mongols burned it to the ground in 1241. Matija Gubec, leader of peasant revolt was tortured and killed here in 1573. There are many beautiful streets in Zagreb to walk. Old buildings take you to the times when witches were burned and others bring flourishing times of Austro Hungarian empire into your mind. Parks and green areas represent large parts of the city and they are skilfully incorporated into the city so that they are not just parks but city itself. There are numerous museums in the city. Many great places are inviting you to take a seat, have coffee, enjoy the moment or just watch people and trams passing by. But don't just watch old city because Zagreb is much more than that to me, the city of living people. Watch facades. Contact people! Walk all the way to Sava river, walk its banks and check "rocket" skyscrapers, the ugliest buildings man has ever created. ;)) Take a tram to Novi Zagreb and check buildings and Velesajam ("big fair") there. They say there is nothing to see, but hey, that is Zagreb, too, hundreds of thousands people live there. Check Tresnjevka and Tresnjevka market, the best market in town and walk down Ozaljska street to remiza (tram depot) to see where trams sleep. Check Square of sports and see sport coplex, there. Visit beautiful Maksimir park and zoo. Check nearby Dinamo stadium. Check Mirogoj cemetary. Take tram and lift to Zagreb mountain, Sljeme or walk there (if you dare ;) ). Visit Medvedgrad castle. The only thing that Zagreb lacks are tourists, everything else is already there!

Sorry for bad quality photos, it wasn't great day, I'll take better ones as soon as possible. Actually I already like them better after I creted this page. ;)))