Zagreb Part 1

Zagreb, Part 1

The first order of business today is definitely food. Skipping dinner and only snacking made for a hungry Minion and Gimpy. After checking out of our AirBNB and storing our luggage at the bus station, we were ready to head into the centre of the city.

Otto and Frank

Gimpy had looked up a breakfast spot called Otto and Frank that looked to be well reviewed. So it was the first place we headed to. We were excited for breakfast! While I loved the Turkish cuisine, one of the things Gimpy and I had a craving for was pork. Because they are a predominantly Muslim country, the availability of pork was non-existent.

Both Gimpy and I ordered the “Zagreb Breakfast” which had two notable items. The first was ham which satisfied the pork craving. The second was a crispy poached egg. Neither Gimpy or I have had a poached egg before, so we were fascinated by how someone could deep fry a poached egg and yet keep the yolk runny. Nonetheless it was an amazing breakfast! All the ingredients really worked well together, and was amazingly flavorful.

To wash it down I ordered something called a “black and easy”. Which is an “instant” version of Turkish Coffee. Its prepared much like instant coffee in North America but in a bit of a larger cup. Having just been in Turkey, I can safely say that it did actually taste and feel like Turkish coffee and while I was glad to have variety in food, I’m glad to still have access to Turkish style coffee.

Tkalčićeva Street

Otto and Frank is located on a popular walking street in Zagreb called Tkalčićeva Street. Since we were here we spent a little time walking up and down the street. Later we’d cross over this street a few times as we explored around the center of town. Its a beautiful European looking street lined with bars and patios for people to enjoy. We really enjoyed the vibe and the style of the street. I don’t think this was representative of all of Zagreb, but it was a far cry from the busy streets of Istanbul and really helped feel we were now in Europe.

Zagreb Cathedral

After getting to the end of Tkalčićeva Street, we looped around on a parallel street and made our way towards the Zagreb Cathedral. It is the tallest building in Croatia and it wasn’t hard to follow the road to get there. Once you arrive in front of it, you immediately gain an appreciation for the size of the structure and the attention to detail that is paid to the various art that is on the exterior walls.

The interior of the cathedral is just as impressive as the exterior. Inside it is still a functioning church and all the elements of Roman Catholic worship are present. There is beautiful religious artwork on the walls, ornate chandeliers, statues and elements all over, beautiful stain glass and even a large organ.

We spent a bit of time walking through the entire cathedral, and even a little time to have a quiet moment to ourselves. Its a beautiful building and it fulfills its purpose well.

Street Art

Gimpy had read a little bit about various locations for street art in and around Zagreb. So we set out looking for some. Gimpy had some directions to a few places, but when we arrived we couldn’t find any. After a bit of online searching, we stumbled upon a cool street art map which eventually led us to some. The art is cool! While my hope was for Melbourne level street art, what we found wasn’t too shabby. In fact there were a few, we didn’t notice on our first walk around which was cool to discover on the second go.

Upper Town

While looking for street art, we ended up walking through the upper (or old) town of Zagreb. This is a place with small cobblestone streets and old European style buildings. In the middle is this beautiful church with a very lovely decorative roof. When I first saw it, I didn’t actually believe it was real. For some reason I kind of thought it was made out of Lego or something, since it looked so colorful and elaborate. Its a lovely building and really catches the eye.

From the Upper Town, you’re also able to get some amazing views of Zagreb. Its situated on the top of a hill so depending on where you walk to, you can find some great vantage points to see the city skyline and catch some great shots of the city.

Tortureum – Museum of Torture

Close to the upper town is the Museum of Torture. Yes, you heard that right. There is a museum that has a collection of items that are devoted especially to the idea of torture, execution and punishment. We’d read about this museum prior to our visit, but wasn’t super keen to visit (for good reason I suppose). But after reading a few reviews, and cautiously making our way to the front to check it out. We thought, why not!

The entrance is already daunting with artwork that depicts different forms of torture. The museum itself is rather small with only 2 and half rooms of exhibits. (Though, if you ask me, its enough!) In each room there are several areas displaying different types of torture tools. This could range from tools for humiliation to tools for execution. You’re able to touch several of the tools, which really gives you an appreciation for some of the brutality involved. At each station you use the IPad you’re given to scan the code. It then gives you a more in depth description of the instrument and its use. It talks about the why, how, and when some of them were used. There were more than a few occasions where you simply cringed and felt chills thinking about it.

While the museum is really creepy, and not for the faint of heart. It does have a meaningful message behind it. These are all things that a human has done to another human, and thus appreciating the brutality of what we can inflict on our fellow man, may cause us to think twice moving forward. It clearly uses a lot of shock to drive its message home, but I think in some ways its rather effective.

Relaxing and Gelato

We needed a bit of a break after the heaviness that was the Museum of torture. So Gimpy and I decided to grab some Gelato at a nearby Ice cream shop called Vincek, we’d passed by looking for street art.

With Ice Cream in hand, we also decided to spend a little time in a small coffee shop called the Cookie Factory to relax and enjoy the afternoon. The interior of the shop is quite cute with odd and quirky bits of art and commentary on the walls. We spent a majority of our time enjoying the afternoon and a drink or two.

Dinner at Nostromo

It was getting near dinner time by the time we left the Cookie Factory. Our plan was to grab a quick dinner before getting back to the train station to the airport for our evening flight to Dubrovnik. We settled on a restaurant nearby called Nostromo. I’d read that Croatia has some stellar pasta given its proximity to Italy. Gimpy and I both ordered pastas and they were really good! I think the only thing I wasn’t super keen on was the amount of smoking that happens in an outdoor European patio. While the food was very good, sometimes it was difficult to enjoy it with smoke wafting through your eating area. Nonetheless the food was great and we were satisfied.

Flight to Dubrovnik

From dinner we made our way to the bus terminal where we hopped on the airport transfer shuttle to Zagreb airport. Within an hour we had arrived at the airport where we checked in and breezed through security.

The flight was quiet and uneventful. Again, we were likely the last to arrive since Dubrovnik airport was equally a ghost town. By the time we’d gotten out of the terminal it was around 11 PM. We hopped on what was likely the last Airport shuttle bus into town. Forty five minutes later we were being dropped off at the Pile Gate of the old town. Our Airbnb was a five minute walk from the gate, so it was very quick before we reunited with VINO!

Vino flew into Dubrovnik earlier in the day and already settled in. She was already jet lagged from her flight across the ocean, but was nice enough to wait up for us and let us in. Soon after she crashed, and after showering both Gimpy and I crashed knowing we had a full day ahead.